The T20 World Cup 2024 has been full of unexpected results. Underdogs USA, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh have reached the Super Eight stage, while previous champions Pakistan and Sri Lanka have been eliminated. New Zealand’s impressive run of 10 consecutive ICC knockout qualifications has come to an end, while defending champions England barely managed to advance to the next round.

England’s T20 World Cup campaign was full of surprises. Their match against Scotland was rained out, and they then suffered a crushing 36-run defeat to Australia, severely jeopardizing their chances of advancing to the Super Eights.

Not only did England need to win their remaining games against Oman and Namibia, but they also required Australia to defeat Scotland in order to keep their tournament hopes alive. It was at this critical juncture that Josh Hazlewood stepped up to make the situation even more tense.

In a press conference, the Australian pacer stated that it would be in the team’s best interests to eliminate England from the tournament. This sparked speculation that the reigning World Cup champions were planning to deliberately underperform against Scotland – doing just enough to secure a win, but ensuring England’s early elimination.

According to Glenn Maxwell, Hazlewood’s comments sparked some concern in the English team, leading their Ashes rivals to reach out to Maxwell with a few text messages.

“I got a few texts, it was amusing. Also there was a lot of chatter in team like, ‘Should we let England back in.’ It was an intriguing match, but we struggled with our batting early on. We just couldn’t find our rhythm initially. When I got out, it was a pivotal moment in the game. Fortunately, Head’s injury was starting to improve. The match could have gone either way, but then Stoinis came out and played an absolute blinder. That innings put the game firmly out of reach for the opposition,” stated Maxwell on the ESPN podcast ‘Around the Wicket.’