If this is the Carnival of Cricket, consider this: Australia were 92 in the 20th over, but then proceeded to take as many as 20.4 overs to get the remaining 19 runs! They stone-walled the West Indies bowlers with the blatant intent of boosting the West Indies' net run rate in front of a booing crowd.

The Australians who were in a must-win situation, also needed to bat as many overs as possible to inflate the West Indies' net run rate. This made New Zealand's task of overtaking the West Indies' net run rate stiffer when they took on Scotland in the final league match at Edinburgh today.

Not that Australia did it out of any hatred for New Zealand. Should West Indies make the Super Six at the expense of New Zealand, Australia will have a handy two points (from this wintoday) in the bag. If New Zealand joins them instead of Windies, the Aussies, who lost to New Zealand, will go to the Super Six without any point, while the Kiwis will have two.

For New Zealand to defeat these evil Australian tactics they had to thrash Scotland convincingly. If the Scots made 125, New Zealand had to win in the 22nd over. It is also interesting to consider what would have been New Zealand's ask if Australia had humbled the West Indies' target of 110 in 25, 30 and 45 overs respectively.