Josh Hazlewood reacts to the possibility of Australia knocking England out of the tournament

Australia take on Scotland in the final game of Group B this Sunday with England’s chances of qualification potentially depending on how the Scotts perform in the match with the likelihood of the net-run rate coming into play.

Australia have booked their spot in the second round, but another place is up for grabs with three more matches remaining in the Group.

After two games, England have just one point after a washout against Scotland early in the tournament. Scotland, on the other hand, have five points in three games and the best England can do is match them on points in the remaining two games, making the net-run rate a decisive factor in determining the second team to qualify from Group B.

Australian seamer Josh Hazlewood cheekily admitted that Australia could potentially knock England out if they manage to narrow the margin of victory against Scotland on Sunday.

"In this tournament, you potentially come up against England at some stage again and they're probably one of the top few teams on their day and we've 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 said in the post-match press conference after Australia’s win over Namibia.

"It'll be interesting to see. We've never really been in this position before as a team, I don't think, so whether we will have discussions or not, we'll just try and play it again the way we did tonight. That'll be up to people, not me."

The seamer weighed up options that the team has at its disposal to pull one over their arch-rivals, especially with the net-run rate not being carried forward to the second round. However, he also stressed that a big win could be a morale boost for the Aussies heading into the second round.

"There's a few options there but to take confidence from winning and winning well, I think that's almost more important than potentially trying to knock someone else out,” the Aussie seamer said.

“They've still got a lot to do on their behalf as well, so I think it'll become clearer the closer we get to that sort of stuff."

The scenario would only arise if England manage to beat Oman and Namibia in their remaining two fixtures, which would take their overall points tally to five, the same as Scotland.