It will be a United Kingdom derby as England and Scotland lock horns in Match 6 of the T20 World Cup 2024 to kick off their campaign. The two teams, which are part of Group B, will meet at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados on Tuesday, June 4.
Jos Buttler-led England are the reigning champions and they would be eager to get the tournament off to a winning start. They had a horror ODI World Cup last year, where they failed to reach the semi-finals, and would put that behind them in the past.
Scotland is grouped with England, Australia, Namibia, and Oman, and with the presence of two heavyweights, they would need to pull off an upset to advance through to the next stage.
What has happened so far?
England won the 2022 T20 World Cup edition which was held in Australia, where they defeated India in the semi-finals and Pakistan in the final. They haven’t had an ideal preparation as they struggled to field a full-strength side for the most part due to injuries and most recently, their series against Pakistan was affected by rain.
England clinched the series by 2-0, with two of the games getting washed out. Buttler starred with the bat in the first game, scoring 84 runs off 51 balls while Reece Topley bagged three wickets and Jofra Archer marked his return with 2 for 28.
The last game at the Oval saw Adil Rashid, Mark Wood, and Liam Livingstone pick two scalps each before Phil Salt (45 runs in 24 balls) and Buttler (39 runs in 21 balls) helped the team chase down 158 in 15.3 overs.
Scotland made it to the T20 World Cup 2024 through Europe Qualifier, where they won the tournament after topping the table with six victories. Recently, Scotland played a tri-nation series against Netherlands and Ireland, in which they came second with one win and two losses.
George Munsey smashed 72 runs off 44 balls in their only victory in the series against the Netherlands while the likes of Mark Watt
Head to Head Record
Surprisingly, England and Scotland have never faced each other in the shorter format of the game. This would be the first clash between the two sides and Scotland will have a huge task in front of them, having much lesser experience compared to England.
Key Players
Jos Buttler (England): The England skipper is undoubtedly their most important batter, having the responsibility of holding the unit together and batting longer. He has over 3000 runs in T20I cricket at an average of 35 while striking at 145.
Buttler had an average IPL season according to his standards, scoring 359 runs from 11 innings but still managed to smash two centuries. He looked in good touch in England’s recent clash against Pakistan, where he struck 84 runs off 51 deliveries.
Mark Watt is a skilful left-arm orthodox spinner who has picked up 77 T20 wickets
Mark Watt (Scotland): Mark Watt is a skilful left-arm orthodox spinner and has an outstanding record in T20 internationals. He will be a key figure for Scotland in this game with the England batting line-up consisting mainly of right-handers.
Watt has taken 77 wickets in T20I cricket from 61 innings at an excellent economy rate of 6.81 while striking every 17.2 deliveries. He recently recorded figures of 4/12 against the Netherlands in the Tri-Nation Series and also had a crucial role in the Warm-up matches with both bat and ball against Afghanistan.
Predicted XIs
England: Jos Buttler © (wk), Phil Salt, Will Jacks, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley
Scotland: George Munsey, Ollie Hairs, Michael Jones, Richie Berrington ©, Matthew Cross (wk), Michael Leask, Mark Watt, Chris Greaves, Christopher Sole, Gavin Main, Bradley Currie
Prediction
Looking at the track record of these two teams, England heads into this game as clear favorites. They have a much stronger batting line-up on paper, with the likes of Jos Buttler, Phil Salt, Will Jacks, and Harry Brook, and also have a much more potent bowling attack with Jofra Archer back in the side.
However, the England team has a history of failing against weaker opponents in ICC tournaments and Scotland will hope to exploit the opportunity.