- Australia has been taunted by cricket fans online
- Josh Hazlewood’s comments continue to haunt him
- Hazlewood angered the England fans earlier in the tournament
Australian star Josh Hazlewood once relished the opportunity to send England home early from the Twenty20 World Cup.
However, in a twist of fate, it will be the Aussies who will watch as Jos Buttler’s men march through to the semi-finals of the competition.
Hazlewood set social media ablaze earlier this month when he admitted the Aussies were considering manipulating their group stage result against Scotland.
A narrow margin of victory for the Aussies would have allowed the Scots to advance to the Super Eight in place of England as the reigning champions struggled through the preliminary stages of the tournament.
“In this tournament you may come up against England again at some point and they are probably one of the best teams on the day,” Hazlewood said.
“We’ve had some real struggles against them in T20 cricket. So if we can take them out of the tournament, that’s in our interest, and probably everyone else’s as well.”
As it was, England reached the next stage and finally found some form and booked a place in the semi-finals where they would face India.
But Australia could not join them, with Afghanistan’s underdogs advancing in their place.
Piers Morgan has ridiculed Josh Hazlewood after Australia crashed out of the World Cup
Hazlewood’s comments about England have backfired spectacularly during the tournament
Unsurprisingly, cricket fans took to X – formerly known as Twitter – to taunt Hazlewood and Australia, who were left with egg on their faces.
Outspoken TV personality and cricket tragic Piers Morgan has been at the forefront of mocking England’s biggest rival.
“My thoughts are with Josh Hazlewood and the Australian cricket team at this very difficult time,” he posted to his 8.7 million followers. “I think karma had the last laugh…”
Edgbaston Stadium’s official X account said: ‘Thinking of Josh Hazlewood at this difficult time.’
Another cricket fan highlighted the poetic justice in the way the tournament unfolded for Australia after Hazlewood’s comment.
‘Hazlewood and Australia were planning to eliminate England, but they themselves are now not in the semi-finals.’ the comment was posted with a laughing emoji.
A fourth X account said: ‘A huge sigh of relief for Hazlewood now that there is no longer any chance of Australia facing England in the knockouts.’
One cricket fan, @MichaelPotts_, shared Mail Sport’s original story about Hazlewood’s comments with the caption: ‘Good evening to everyone but especially Josh Hazlewood.’