Australia finished their group stage matches in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 with a five-wicket win over Scotland in St Lucia on Sunday (June 16).
After the game, Aussie pace spearhead Mitchell Starc insisted that Josh Hazlewood commenting about eliminating England was in their best interest was a throwaway line which was blown out of proportion by the media.
"I think a throwaway line has been blown right out of proportion by you lot. You don't stuff around with mother cricket and trying to worry about other results. We're here to win games. It's international cricket.
"England now are on the other side of the draw, so it really doesn't make that much difference for the next three games. So yeah, I think that was blown right out of proportion by you guys," said Starc in the post-match presser.
The left-arm pacer also expressed that he is not a huge fan of teams starting from the scratch in Super 8s.
"I think there's a big question to be asked about the pre-seeding, I'm not sure I'm a fan of that."
Chasing 181 to win against Scotland, Australia rode on half-centuries from Travis Head (68 off 49) and Marcus Stoinis (59 off 29), followed by Tim David’s cameo of 24* in 14 balls to overhaul the target with two deliveries to spare.
"We've got phenomenal power in our middle, well right through our order really. But when you've got Stoin and TD and even (Matthew) Wade in the middle there, they haven't had too many things to do the first few games. So, to have a good hit tonight or to get us home with the run rate going up a little bit and maybe being a comparatively a slowish start, it was good to get some time into those guys.
"But Stoin obviously did it for us. He got us going in the first game against Oman, against England, his ball striking in his second half of the innings was phenomenal. So, he's in great touch which is good for us heading into the pointy end. But I don't think, with as good as the wicket was, the rate probably didn't get out of hand with the power that we've gotten as yet," Starc remarked.
Dropping six catches was a cause of big concern for Australia as it allowed Scotland to post 180/5 on the board.
"We certainly were off the mark in the field with the dropped catches and probably some other areas that were a little bit sloppy as well.
"So good to get that stuff out of the way now and now we're into the pointy end. It didn't feel different. It's still a World Cup game and we're still playing for Australia so we're still trying to take wickets and win games," added Starc.
In their final Group B clash, the 2021 champions rested Hazlewood and Pat Cummins, which paved the way for left-arm spin all-rounder Ashton Agar to bowl four overs for the first time in this T20 World Cup.
"We were in a position where we had plenty of options on the table. We had a chance to rest the two big boys (Hazlewood and Cummins) and get some gametime into Ash. We have another game here (against India) in the Super Eight, so (it was about) getting accustomed to or having a look at conditions here as well.
"Having some batting time into our middle order and some of our spinners obviously getting some time in different situations in the bowling innings, it was a good hit out. That was all we wanted and then we push onto the Super Eights," Starc concluded.
(With IANS Inputs)
