Bridgetown. England, which is entering the ICC T20 World Cup as the defending champion, will play against Scotland in its first match. The English team, which was unable to finalize its preparations due to rain, will aim to make a winning start to its campaign with a win in its first match on Tuesday. Phil Salt would like to continue his excellent form of the Indian Premier League in the T20 World Cup. England’s bowling attack has been strengthened by the return of fast bowler Jofra Archer.
The four-match T20 International series against Pakistan at home was affected by rain. Despite this, England will enter as a strong contender for the title and will try to win the title for the third time. The England team led by Jos Buttler, who is going to face Scotland for the first time in the T20 format, will enter the match to be held at Kensington Oval as a strong contender for victory. During the match between Namibia and Oman at Kensington Oval on Sunday, some balls were coming to a halt.
Apart from Scotland, arch-rivals Australia, Namibia and Oman have also found a place in Group B with England. To make it to the Super Eight stage, teams will have to finish in the top two in their group. Things have not been easy for England in the white-ball format since their five-wicket win over Pakistan in the final of the last T20 World Cup in 2022 in Melbourne.
A year after their success in Australia, England under Butler’s leadership performed poorly in the ODI World Cup in India. The team finished seventh with three wins and six losses in nine matches, including a disappointing defeat against Afghanistan. In white ball cricket, the team then suffered defeats against the West Indies in both the 50-over and 20-over formats. England regained some momentum with a 2-0 win in the recent rain-affected series against Pakistan.
England, who are set to begin their campaign against Scotland, have fond memories of Kensington Oval. It is the same venue where England won their first T20 World Cup title in 2010 under the captaincy of Paul Collingwood, defeating Australia by seven wickets in the final. Since that victory, England have become a dominant force in limited-overs cricket in the last 14 years, winning the ODI World Cup in 2019 before the T20 World Cup two years ago.
Scotland, playing in their third consecutive T20 World Cup, are no match for England on paper but will look to make a mark after comfortably winning the European qualifiers. Scotland won all their six matches in the qualifiers and topped the points table, earning them a place in the T20 World Cup.
Tags: Jos Buttler, T20 World Cup
FIRST PUBLISHED : June 3, 2024, 15:03 IST