T20 World Cup 2024: Australia v Scotland – live

I think Kathy Phillips speaks for many:

Hi Daniel,

Very conflicted at the moment. As an Aussie supporter, I’d obviously like to see them win this, but would also really like to see Scotland go through. Nothing to do with seeing England knocked out either (though the English team must but be a bit nervous right now!).

I’m with you Kathy. These Scots are a joy. It would be a shame to say goodbye to them.

Six and out! Munsey just bashed Maxwell – back into the attack – with a slog sweep but couldn’t repeat the trick to next ball. Maxwell went wider outside off and that meant Munsey had to reach for it. All he could do was lob a high catch for Ellis out on cow corner and a solid knock comes to an end.

9th over: Scotland 92-2 (McMullen 51, Berrington 0)

8th over: Scotland 83-1 (Munsey 28, McMullen 50) My goodness, these Scots are playing the innings of their lives! McMullen in particular who reaches his half century in the over, crunching two sixes – one a monster that cleared the stands on the leg side, the other a delicious lofted straight drive that could be one of the shots of the World Cup – and collecting two singles. Truly superb batting. McMullen needed just 26 balls to reach his second 50 of the competition.

7th over: Scotland 67-1 (Munsey 27, McMullen 36) Zampa joins the attack and gets spanked as well. McMullen leans into a lofted drive and with the sweetest timing clears the fielder at long-off. Zampa over corrects, dragging it down, so McMullen leans back and threads the fielders at backward point and cover to add another four to the total. Three singles elswhere on what is clearly a superb deck and Scotland notch up another successful over.

6th over: Scotland 54-1 (Munsey 26, McMullen 24) Scotland are flying! Ellis drags one short and McMullen climbs into a pull shot, placing it well in front of square. It’s fearless batting. The half century is reached with a steer down to the sweeper on the off side and the powerplay is closed with a boundary, this time from Munsey who uses the pace of Ellis to swivel a pull away to the backward square leg fence.

5th over: Scotland 43-1 (Munsey 21, McMullen 18) Munsey gets stuck in to Maxwell! First a glorious reverse slog-sweep that sails over the ropes. He follows that with a good ol’ fashioned mow that screams off the middle of the bat for another six. The close out the over he beats a diving mid-on with a flick of the wrist to go 6-6-4 from the last three balls. Excellent batting. Scotland are climbing through the gears now.

4th over: Scotland 25-1 (Munsey 4, McMullen 17) There’s a dropped catch at mid-off. It’s the skipper, Marsh, who slightly mistimes his jump and can’t hold on to Munsey’s looping bunt with one hand. A tough chance, but one that maybe could have been made easier with better footwork.

Then another drop. This was a genuinely difficult grab as Head, diving at extra cover, did well just to get there.

Between that McMullen smoked Starc over cover for Six, skipping down the track and bludgeoning the ball into the stiff breeze and over the rope. He’s enjoying pace on the ball.

Brian Withington has been in touch with some praise for the Scots:

Hi Daniel

Shame that there are no NRR machinations to entertain us, but if Scotland can somehow beat Australia then they fully deserve to go through to the Super 8s as the only unbeaten team in the group.

Meanwhile Australia must surely want to win this one and take their victory over England with them into the next stage rather than a loss to Scotland.

In passing that Ellis lad looks a bit useful.

3rd over: Scotland 15-1 (Munsey 2, McMullen 9) Agar is hooked and replaced by Ellis, who is bustling with a fast twitching action. There’s early swing and good pace but McCullen is equal to it, unfurling a staggeringly good straight drive which goes high into the night sky and comes down just over the rope at deep mid-off. A wide and three singles means its a productive over for the Scots.

2nd over: Scotland 5-1 (Munsey 1, McMullen 1) Top start from Starc. His first ball ended with a prolonged appeal for lbw, though his searing yorker always looked like it was missing Munsey’s leg stump. There was a jaffa in the mix, one that was full and swining and just missed Munsey’s off stump. McCullen gets off the mark with a push to mid-off.

What a start from Agar! He’s been zipping them through this over and this one is slightly shorter to the right handed Jones, who leans back and tries to play it square through the off side and gets an inside edge. Great bowling and that’s the end of the first over that was full of control.

1st over: Scotland 3-1 (Munsey 1, McMullen 0)

Right then. It’s Ashton Agar with the ball in his hand. Michael Jones and George Munsey will be desperate to set the tone with bat in hand. Looking forward to this!

It’s a sparse crowd in attendance. A pity that.

As Flower of Scotland rings out, quickly cast your eye across this to find out why the Scots are so confident of achieving the improbable:

This is the first T20 international between Australia and Scotland.

Would be one helluva way to start a rivalry by bagging one of the all time upsets.

“Looks a really good surface,” says Aussie skipper, Mitch Marsh.

“It’s like another World Cup game,” he adds. Quite right, Mitch.

Australia make two changes with Cummins and Hazlewood rested. Starc and Agar join the team.

Australia: Warner, Head, Marsh (c), MAxwell, Stoinis David, Wade (wk), Starc, Ellis, Zampa, Agar.

Scotland’s skipper, Richie Berrington, is just keen to get going: “For us, the chatter is out of our control. We knew we had to beat some of the best teams to qualify. We have gone with the same team as last game.”

Scotland: Munsey, Jones, McMullen, Berrington (c), Cross (wk), Leask, Greaves, Watt, Cole, Wheal, Sharif.

So there’s a chance….

No one actually thinks Australia have any intention of throwing this game, but I’d bet there are a good few Aussie fans who wouldn’t mind seeing their boys lose to Scotland.

If this World Cup adds another remarkable upset to its collection, England’s run would end with Australia and Scotland progressing to the Super 8.

Josh Hazlewood sparked this contentious debate by pointing out the obvious that a World Cup without England in the mix would be easier to win. He said it would be in Australia’s “best interest” to well, allow Scotland to get the job done.

Now there’s talk that skipper Mitch Marsh could face a two-match ban as Clause 2.11 of the ICC’s code of conduct specifically mentions “inappropriate manipulation of a net run-rate” for “strategic or tactical reasons such as when a team deliberately loses a pool match in an ICC Event in order to affect the standings of other teams in that ICC Event”.

Of course, Scotland have the tools to beat Australia in a fair fight. The Scots were cruising at 90-0 after 10 overs against England when rain ended the match. They’ve swatted aside Oman and Namibia and will back themselves to catch the Aussies cold.

It should be a belter. And after all the rain over the past two days, let’s hope for a full 40 overs.

First ball at 10:30 AEST / 01:30 BST from the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia.

Toss, teams and more updates to come.