England coach finally reacts to Australia's 'match-fixing' tactics to eliminate Jos Buttler & Co. from T20 World Cup

England head coach Matthew Mott has claimed that Australia pacer Josh Hazlewood was joking about knocking the reigning champions out of T20 World Cup 2024. 

Matthew Mott's comments came on the eve of Jos Buttler's England's second-last Group B game against Oman earlier today. The Three Lions registered a massive win against the Gulf outfit and they are now just a win away against Namibia to qualify for the Super 8s. The English team looked in very good form and slowly and steadily, they are looking like serious title contenders. 

This is England's second white ball ICC title defense in the space of 7 months. Last year in October-November, the Europeans experienced a very poor 50-Over World Cup in India wherein they finished outside of the top 4 semi-final spots being the reigning champions.

They must have learned about what not to do as a defending champion team and they can use this learning in the T20 WC. 

Jos Buttler and co. have won just one game out of the first 3 matches. Their opening tie against Scotland was washed out due to rain, then they lost to Australia and it was just today that they registered their first win of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024. Their path to the Super 8s are still clear as they just need to ensure that Namibia doesn't win against them. 

But their arch-rivals Australia, who are scheduled to play their last Group B game against Scotland, perhaps don't want England to reach the Super 8s. Aussie seamer Josh Hazlewood had indicated a couple of days ago that they won't mind losing to the Scottish side if that can deny the Three Lions a spot in the next round.  

"In this tournament, you potentially come up against England at some stage again and they are probably one of the top few teams on their day and we have had some real struggles against them in T20 cricket, so if we can get them out of the tournament that's in our best interest," Josh Hazlewood had said during a press conference. 

What did England's Matthew Mott say? 

England head coach Mattew Mott was asked to give his opinion on Josh Hazlewood's remarks yesterday during a press conference. Mott didn't seem to pay much attention to Hazlewood's statement, claiming that he came to know about it earlier that morning. 

Matthew Mott then stated that it's something out of England's control and thus the best thing for them will be to just focus on winning their games. Mott, who revealed that he has a good relationship with Hazlewood, admitted that the Australian was hopefully joking as he has a very good sense of humor. 

"To be honest, I was informed of that this morning. Look to me, that is things out of our control and I think I know Josh pretty well and I know his integrity. I do not think that is a thing. He has got a very good sense of humour and hopefully, that is what he was doing," Matthew Mott said.