Michael Jones hints at Scotland-Australia 'match-fixing' to knock England out of T20 World Cup 2024

Scotland opener Michael Jones opened up about Josh Hazlewood's comments that Australia might lose to Scotland to knock out England from T20 World Cup 2024. He was open to taking help from the Mitchell Marsh-led side, hoping that two teams could sort something out.

Scotland will be taking on Australia in their next game of the T20 World Cup 2024. The match between the two teams will be played on Sunday (16th June). A win for Scotland will take them to the Super 8 stage of the tournament and will knock England out of the event.

Australia pacer Josh Hazlewood recently made a shocking statement and said that Australia will be doing something that might knock England out of the T20 World Cup 2024. The Jos Buttler-led side are defending champions and are in serious trouble in the tournament.

The statement from Jos Hazlewood raised quite a few eyebrows and also after that statement from ICC went viral after that. As per that governing body's code of conduct, if there is manipulation of results or run-rates for “strategic or tactical reasons” then it will be punishable with a possible two-match ban for any offending captain.

Michael Jones laughed at Josh Hazlewood's statement and while highlighting the rivalry between England and Australia stated that if the Marsh-led side wants to play to make their rivals knock out, it will be happy days for his team. But he is sure that the 2021 champions will come out all guns blazing. Speaking to the independent UK, he explained:

"I was watching it live actually, laughing to myself. I watched that interview and I watched (former Australia captain) Tim Paine when he was saying they should field half aside. I’m not particularly close to them, I don’t know any of the Australian players, but it would be good if we could have a little word and sort something out.

"The rivalry between England and Australia is massive. If they want to play that way then happy days. We won’t be complaining. If they want to let David Warner open the bowling or something like that it would be pretty funny. I'm absolutely certain they will come out all guns blazing like they do for every game at every tournament. It’s in the back of your mind, that you want the result any way it can come.”

The Australians are renowned for being extremely diligent and extremely professional - Michael Jones

Michael Jones further added that they want to challenge themselves against the best and as a team they crave such things. He concluded by saying that they would be giving their best to win the game. He added:

"At the end of the day, our team wants the best result we can get, but on a personal level, you want to challenge yourself against the best. To have the opportunity to bat against Jofra Archer and Mark Wood, then Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc, that’s the best in the world. Those are the opportunities we crave as Scotland teams. You want to challenge yourself and see how far you go against those guys.

"The Australians are renowned for being extremely diligent and extremely professional. I’m absolutely certain they will come out all guns blazing like they do for every game at every tournament. I almost hope they do go full strength on Saturday and we can show the cricket world we’re up to the challenge," he concluded