At the start of England campaign in the T20 World Cup, their first match against Scotland was abandoned for rain, causing both teams to share a point in Group B.
Scotland chose to bat first at Kensington Oval and took full advantage of the uncertain conditions. Openers Michael Jones and George Munsey raced to a 51-run partnership in only 6.2 overs before a long stoppage due to rain. After resumption, Scotland set England a target of 109 runs from 10 overs using DLS method. Although they began well reaching 90 without any loss, another downpour ended the chase for England.
Matthew Mott, the coach of England expressed his disappointment after believing that his team would have had an edge over Scotland because of their big hitting batting line up and hard conditions under which they had to bowl with if it was wet ball.
“We had all the advantage I think. Our balls were going to be wet; we would have been left with a maximum ten wickets in hand since there would also be only ten over,” said Mott during this conference. “That was probably an attainable chase with all things being equal and having watched quite a bit of T20 cricket. It’s frustrating not getting back out there but that’s how it is,” he added.
Mott admitted that England looked shaky on the field with some fumbles here and there as well as allowing Munsey off early.
“There are definitely areas we want to improve on, but there was a lot of good stuff in there as well,” Mott continued. However, Mott remained positive about England’s prospects for the tournament despite this anti-climax. He pointed out that their strong suit lies not only in terms of depth in batting but also when Mark Wood bowls alongside Jofra Archer.
“I think you know Mark Wood steaming in their first over I think is exciting him and Jofra together is something that we’ve not been able to have for a while,” he commented. England’s next match is against Australia, who they will face at the same venue in the 2010 finals on Saturday. Both England and Scotland have one point each in Group B where the former have a better run rate than the latter.
