Michael Jones on Josh Hazlewood

Scotland opener Michael Jones has said that his team wouldn't mind if Australia were to do them a favour in order to knock England out of the T20 World Cup.

Josh Hazlewood stirred up a storm when he said after the Australia-Namibia game that they might consider limitting their victory margin against Scotland as that would facilitate knocking England out of the Super Eights race.

Scotland currently have five points from three games and a significantly superior net run rate than England, who only have one point from two matches. A narrow loss for Scotland against Australia will dent England's chances of qualifying for the Super Eights, even if they were to win their last two matches by big margins.

Speaking after Australia's massive victory against Namibia, which put them through to the next round, Hazlewood said, "if we can get them out of the tournament that's in our best interest as well as probably everyone else."

Jones: Scotland wouldn't mind an Australia favour

“I was watching it live actually, laughing to myself,” Michael Jones, the Scotland opener who scored 45 off 30 in the washed out encounter against England earlier in the World Cup, said in reference to Hazlewood's press conference.

“I watched that interview and I watched (former Australia captain) Tim Paine when he was saying they should field half a side. 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.

Also read: Are Australia allowed to manipulate net run rate to knock England 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."

While these comments seemed to have been made in good spirits, Jones is wary of Australia's competitive nature and expects them to come out full-strength.

“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 said, while adding that he wants to challenge himself against the best on a personal level as well.

“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 Scotland-Australia clash is on June 15 in St Lucia.

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