Australia saw off a determined challenge from Scotland to claim a five-wicket victory in a decisive final Group B match of the T20 World Cup for both teams at the Daren Sammy Stadium in St Lucia on Saturday.

Replying to the Scots' 180 for five, their highest total in a T20 World Cup match, half-centuries from Travis Head (68 off 49 balls, five fours, four sixes) and Marcus Stoinis (59 off 29 balls, nine fours, two sixes) paced them to the target and a 100 percent winning record in the group with two balls to spare.

Tim David's unbeaten 24 off 14 balls finished the job to lift Australia to 186 for five.

Reacting to an early exit of team Pakistan from the T-20 Cricket World Cup (WC) currently being played in the USA and West Indies, former Pakistani skipper and master blaster Shahid Afridi has said that it is so unfortunate that Babar Azam was allowed to lead the side despite successive losses the national team suffered under his captaincy, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Saturday.   

“The selection committee should be held accountable for that,” he has said, adding, “If the captain is good, he can make a team losing the match win it.”  

Afridi, who earned the title of ‘Boom Boom’ for his mighty sixers, has said that so far Babar has captained the side in five to six tournaments. “He has performed well as a batsman. But he needs to realize that he has to become a match-winner just like Indian great Virat Kohli.”

The former skipper has said that in his opinion, Muhammad Rizwan was a far better choice. “During one of the presentations, Babar said that the bowlers’ performance was not up to the mark,” Afridi has said, adding, “He should not blame either bowlers or batsmen for the team’s defeat. The team ought to play like a unit.”

South Africa survived a major scare from Nepal in scrambling a nerve-jangling one-run victory in their final Group D match of the T20 World Cup at the Arnos Vale Stadium in St Vincent on Friday.

Needing eight runs off the final over in pursuit of a modest target of 116 for a stunning upset win, the Nepalese fell agonisingly short at 114 for seven with Gulshan Jha run out off the final ball as he attempted a single off Ottneil Baartman to force a super over.

"Very grateful to have got the win, we were not near our best tonight," relieved South Africa captain Aiden Markram said afterwards.

"Reflecting back on the game over the next few days, there will be a lot of learnings for us.

"First and foremost, the way Nepal bowled it made it really tough for us. They put us under a lot of pressure."

After leg-break bowler Kushal Bhurtel (4 for 19) and off-spinner Dipendra Singh Airee (3 for 21) limited the Proteas to 115 for seven batting first, Aasif Sheikh (42) and Anil Sah (27) featured in a 50-run third-wicket partnership which pulled the Nepalese within touching distance of a result which would have kept their hopes alive of getting to the Super Eight phase of the tournament.

Dropped on one to a caught-and-bowled chance by pacer Kagiso Rabada in just the second over of the innings, opening batsman Sheikh saw off the first threat of Tabraiz Shamsi only for the left-arm wrist-spinner to return for a final over in the 18th over of the innings to claim both Sah and Sheikh in finishing with the excellent figures of four for 19.

Anrich Nortje then bowled Kushal Malla in the 19th over to tilt the balance South Africa's way and they just managed to hang on for the win amid unbearable tension.

New Zealand thrashed Uganda by nine wickets in a T20 World Cup Group C clash of already-eliminated teams in Trinidad on Friday.

New Zealand, whose exit from the tournament was confirmed by Afghanistan's win over Papua New Guinea on Thursday, cruised to an easy win after restricting Uganda to a paltry 40 all out off 18.4 overs, with Tim Southee taking three wickets for four runs and Trent Boult 2-7.

The Black Caps then raced to their victory target in just 5.2 overs for the loss of only one wicket.

Devon Conway top-scored for the New Zealanders with an unbeaten 22 while Finn Allen went for nine runs.

New Zealand's run chase was assisted by a wayward bowling performance from Uganda, who sent down six wides and a no-ball.

Player of the match Southee admitted the emphatic win was little consolation for New Zealand's early exit from the tournament.

Afghanistan underlined their growing status as the dark horses of the 2024 T20 World Cup with a seven-wicket victory over Papua New Guinea on Thursday to advance to the Super Eight phase of the competition and send New Zealand crashing out.

Fazalhaq Farooqi added another three victims to his tournament-leading wicket tally as PNG were bundled out for 95 off 19.5 overs batting first in the Group C match at the Brian Lara Stadium in Trinidad.

Afghanistan stumbled early in reply, losing both openers cheaply for the first time in the tournament but eventually reached the target for the loss of three wickets in the 16th over for a third win in a row.

Gulbadin Naib, dropped on nine by wicketkeeper Kiplin Doriga off medium-pacer Alei Nao, took his team to the target with an unbeaten 49 in an unbroken fourth-wicket partnership of 46 with Mohammad Nabi (16 not out). Afghanistan finished on 101-3 off 15.1 overs.

The result confirms Afghanistan's place, together with hosts West Indies, in the next round while at the same time eliminating New Zealand, who still have two group matches to play.

Left-arm seamer Farooqi spearheaded another impressive Afghan bowling effort, taking two quick wickets after PNG captain Assad Vala inadvertently opened the door for his opponents when he was carelessly run out in the second over of the match.

Two more run outs followed and Farooqi returned in the 19th over to claim another scalp to finish with three for 16 before a fourth run out ended the innings.

England hammered Oman by eight wickets as the reigning champions revived their T20 World Cup campaign with a record-breaking win in Antigua on Thursday.

Needing a heavy victory to bolster their net run-rate as they attempt to overhaul Scotland in the race to qualify for the second round, England routed Oman for just 47.

England then made 50-2 in a mere 3.1 overs, captain Jos Buttler 24 not out and Jonny Bairstow, who hit the winning boundary, unbeaten on eight.

This overwhelming Group B victory meant England recorded the largest win in T20 World Cup history in terms of balls remaining.

Oman had no answer to England's attack, leg-spinner Adil Rashid taking 4-11, while express quicks Jofra Archer and Mark Wood both had figures of 3-12 in an innings that ended with nearly seven overs to spare.

Number seven Shoaib Khan (11) was the only Oman batsman to reach double figures after Buttler won the toss.

England's net run-rate climbed to 3.081, better than Scotland's 2.16, although they stayed third on three points, behind the Scots' five.

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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

"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.

"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.

"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."

Cummins said he had spoken to Hazlewood and the comments were tongue-in-cheek and "got taken a bit out of context."

"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.

"It's something you discuss as one of the quirks of the set-up, but it does it change the way we play? Absolutely not."

The United States became the first team to be penalised five runs under the new stop-clock rules in their T20 World Cup loss to India on Wednesday but coach Stuart Law insisted it "did not affect the outcome of the game".

The sanction has been introduced by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in an effort to speed up play.

A team is penalised if after two warnings they still take more than a minute between overs.

On Wednesday, the US were penalised at the start of the 16th over and instead of needing 35 runs off 30 balls to reach their 111-run target, India's task became 30 off 30 deliveries instead.

"We had a few warnings in earlier games, and it's something we do talk about to get through faster between the overs," said former Australian international Law.

"We're only a fledgling team. There's plenty to learn. There's not just the cricket aspect of the game of cricket, but there's also the other intricacies that need to be embedded. It's a rule that's only just come in.

"A lot of our players wouldn't have heard about it before we played in the Bangladesh series or the Canada series earlier this year."

Despite the penalty, Law said the five-run sanction would not have impacted the outcome of the Group A clash.

India won by seven wickets with a comfortable 10 balls to spare to qualify for the second round Super Eights.

"Five runs wasn't going to affect the outcome of the game," added Law.

"The players know the rule, but it's something that if you haven't played with it for a long time, it's very difficult to have it embedded in your brain."

Law said he has no issue with the new regulation if it helps speed up passages of play.

"There needs to be a pace of play. I think if you're dragging games out that should last three and a half hours, they're going for four and a half hours, that's a bit much.

"I don't see it as a bad thing, I see it as a good thing. The game continues to move. When momentum is with you, you want to keep that momentum running quicker and put the opposition under pressure that way."

Sherfane Rutherford rescued the West Indies with the bat and their bowlers contained New Zealand to complete a 13-run victory in a Group C match of the T20 World Cup in Trinidad on Wednesday.

Rutherford's unbeaten 68 off 39 balls (two fours, six sixes) lifted the home side from the depths of 30 for five in the seventh over to a competitive 149 for nine after they were put in by Black Caps skipper Kane Williamson.

Thrashed in their opening match by Afghanistan and therefore in a virtual must-win situation, the Black Caps never developed any momentum in the chase in being restricted to 136 for nine.

The defeat leaves New Zealand needing a miracle to progress beyond the group stage. The Kiwis will be eliminated if Afghanistan defeat Papua New Guinea on Thursday.

Sherfane Rutherford rescued the West Indies from a seemingly hopeless position to a competitive 149 for nine batting first against New Zealand in a Group C match of the T20 World Cup at the Brian Lara Stadium in Trinidad on Wednesday.

Rutherford's unbeaten 68 off 39 balls (two fours, six sixes) lifted the home side from the depths of 30 for five in the seventh over after they were put in by Black Caps skipper Kane Williamson.

Earlier, Trent Boult led New Zealand's much-improved effort by dispatching Johnson Charles in the first over of the match, finishing with the excellent figures of three for 16.

After victories over Papua New Guinea and Uganda at the Guyana National Stadium, West Indies seemed unprepared for the challenge, until Rutherford intervened to transform what was shaping up as an abject capitulation.