England Players Panicked as Qualification Hung in the Balance

Ahead of Australia's Super Eights clash against Bangladesh in the 2024 T20 World Cup, all-rounder Glenn Maxwell has revealed the chaos that ensued in the England dressing room as their qualification hung in the balance.

England's fate rested on Australia's victory over Scotland, and as the match reached its climax, panic set in among the English players. Maxwell disclosed that some players were frantically booking and canceling flights as the outcome remained uncertain.

"There was almost this interesting part where they dropped Tim David's catch when there were three runs required off three balls," Maxwell said. "When it gets down to the last two-three balls, who knows what is going to happen? Luckily enough, we got over the line and luckily enough, they got through. But I heard it was absolutely chaos."

Maxwell also received messages from England players before the game, expressing their anxiety. "Yeah, just a couple of texts here and there (from England players)," he said. "It was actually quite funny. There was a lot of chat out in the ground like 'Are we doing this? Are we seriously going to let England back in?' It was a pretty interesting game."

Prior to the match, Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood had stated that it would be in everyone's best interests if England were eliminated early. "In this tournament, you potentially come up against England at some stage again and...they are probably one of the top few teams on their day and we have had some real struggles against them in T20 cricket, so if we can get them out of the tournament that's in our best interest as well as probably everyone else," Hazlewood had said.

Australia's victory over Scotland secured England's qualification for the Super Eights on the basis of net run rate. The defending champions will begin their Super Eights campaign against West Indies on Thursday.

Tags: #T20WorldCup, #Australia, #England, #Bangladesh, #GlennMaxwell