England will play against Namibia on Saturday (June 15) at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Barbuda while Australia will be playing their next match against Scotland on Sunday (June 16) at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground.
All three teams are dependent on each other to qualify for the Super Eight. England have boosted its net run rate after defeating Oman on Thursday by making 50 runs within 3.1 overs.
If England defeat Namibia, then it is essential for Scotland to win against Australia to qualify for the next stage of the T20 World Cup 2024.
Former Australian captain Pat Cummins said that he would never consider manipulating their net run rate to dismiss England from the tournament as such actions does not align with the "spirit of cricket".
Moreover, Australia’s right-arm fast bowler Josh Hazlewood believes that knocking England out of the tournament will be a favourable condition for the Kangaroos.
Nevertheless, Cummins indulged in the debate over Spirit of cricket clarified that Hazlewood’s comments on the matter were not meant seriously.
"I think when you go out and play you are trying your best every time and if you are not, that's probably against the spirit of cricket," he told reporters in St Lucia before the result of the England-Oman match. "Haven't really thought too deeply because it's never really popped up.
"I was speaking to Joshy, who had a bit of a joke about it the other day, and think it got taken a little bit out of context. We'll go there and just try and play Scotland who have had a really good tournament so far and will be tough. It's [net run rate] something you kind of discuss as one of the quirks of the set-up but in terms of does it change the way we play, absolutely not.
"I've never stepped into the field without the mindset of trying to take the game on and be aggressive, like the guys have so far."
On the other hand, Cameron Green, Josh Inglis and Ashton Agar are yet to play in the tournament and might be showing their skills before the next stage, as the Mitchell Marsh-led side is planning to keep some players on rest in their clash against Scotland on Sunday.
"I haven't spoken to the selectors or anyone, so I don't know what they're thinking," Cummins said of the option to rotate players. "But I wouldn't be surprised. I know going into the start of the tournament, in a perfect world, we'd get a game into just about all the squad members."
"It's a bit of a luxury now in this first section of the tournament but once we get to the Super Eights don't think they'll be any resting. Definitely [can play all the games], we are used to playing Test cricket so four overs is a breeze. There's no workload issues at all. You start prioritising sleep, refuelling and those kind of things but in terms of getting up for the game, it's fine. We've done it loads of times, loads of IPL games are kind of play, fly to the other side of the country and play again. Same with BBL. It's not necessarily new. It will be busy but we are kind of used to it,” Cummins added.
- Pat Cummins
