Marcus Stoinis destroys ‘funniest result in cricket history’ as Australia defeat Scotland at T20 World Cup

Australia gave England a reprieve for the T20 World Cup after surviving a scare in St Lucia to claim a last-gasp five-wicket victory over Scotland.

With their own progression to the Super Eight stage already secured, Australia were well below their best as they chased down Scotland’s 5-180 with two balls to spare.

Marcus Stoinis was Australia’s saviour, blasting a half-century and combining for an 80-run stand with Travis Head, who also picked up the bat, which changed the match.

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Tim David and Matt Wade took the game to the death before a missed catch by Chris Soule in the final over allowed Australia to cruise home.

The result means England will join Australia in exiting Group B thanks to a better net result than Scotland, whose World Cup has ended.

But for long periods of the match it looked like England’s tournament – after that days of debate about Australia playing slow to ensure the English are knocked out – it could be over.

With Pat Cummins rested and Stoinis without bowling, Australia dropped six catches in the field and looked at risk of their first T20 loss against an Associate nation.

“One of the most entertaining results in the history of cricket is in sight,” journalist Daniel Cerny wrote of a possible Scotland win and England elimination.

Brandon McMullen hit 60 off 34 balls for the Scots, hitting half a dozen sixes in his knock and regularly going inside-out over long-on.

Adam Zampa eventually got his wicket when he beat the right-hander on the run and took a good catch at short third man from Mitchell Starc, slowing Scotland’s momentum in the process.

Glenn Maxwell took 2-44, withstanding a bit of punishment before outscoring opener George Muncie (35 off 23) at another crucial moment.

In reply, Australia struggled to catch fire and were 1-36 after six overs and their slowest performance of the competition.

When the equation reached 107 needed from the last 10 overs, England would have considered booking their flights home.

But Head (68 off 49 balls) and Stoinis (59 off 29) managed to bring their side back into the match.

Stoinis was the first to make an impression.

With 89 needed from 42 balls, he took 18 off one from Safyaan Sharif when he hit him for a six and then cleared the rope down the field with the next ball.

And then with 60 required from the final over, Head hit Sharif for three consecutive sixes before he was eventually caught down the ground a few balls later.

“I was just trying to keep (Head) batting and then he picked his bowler and turned the game around with those three sixes,” Stoinis said.

“There is no substitute for confidence. That’s the recipe we all try to stick to – to be confident as long as we can.”

By the time of Head’s dismissal, the damage was done and any thought of Australia deliberately knocking England out of the tournament was shown to be a myth.

David got the job done, knocking out Scotland and taking Australia unbeaten into the Super Eights, where they are likely to face India, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

“It was more external than internal,” captain Mitch Marsh said of talk of pulling England out of the tournament.

“We spoke before the game about sticking to our game and how we want to try and win games of cricket… It was a good chase in the end.”

– with 7NEWS