Pat Cummins ruled out Thursday the prospect of Australia underperforming against Scotland in a bid to oust rivals England from the Twenty20 World Cup, saying it would be against the "spirit of cricket."<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Bowling spearhead Josh Hazlewood caused controversy this week when he said it would be in Australia's interests for reigning champions England to be out of the competition.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Australia have already secured their place in the next round, the Super Eights, and he suggested they could ease up in their closing Group B game against Scotland this weekend to engineer their bitter rivals' exit.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
That scenario now appears less likely after England crushed Oman by eight wickets on Thursday to move above Scotland on net run rate with a final game to come against Namibia.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
England coach Matt Mott -- an Australian -- said he hoped Hazlewood was joking and Australia's Test and one-day skipper Cummins assured him that the bowler was.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"When you go out and play you're trying your best every time. And if you're not, it's probably against the spirit of cricket," Cummins told reporters in St Lucia.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"I don't think you can (go into a game not trying to win) -– ever. You're playing an international game in the middle of a World Cup.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"You still want to try and have a good game and carry that on into the Super Eights. I've never stepped on to the field without the mindset of being aggressive, like the guys have so far."<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Cummins said he had spoken to Hazlewood and the comments were tongue-in-cheek and "got taken a bit out of context."<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"We'll go out there and try to play Scotland, who have had a really good tournament so far, so it's going to be tough," he said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n