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T20 World Cup: Scotland enjoy ‘incredible opportunity’

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Image caption, Scotland won the European T20 World Cup qualifier in Edinburgh last summer

Scotland are ready to go for the T20 World Cup, with head coach Doug Watson urging his side to make the most of an “incredible opportunity” to take on England and Australia in the Caribbean.

The Scots, who open against defending champions England on Tuesday, also face Oman and Namibia in Group A.

Having only played six T20 matches this year, there are welcome warm-up matches in Trinidad against Uganda on Thursday and Afghanistan on Friday before they travel to Barbados to begin their tournament.

“The Games in Oman and Namibia cannot be taken lightly,” Watson said. “They are two strong teams, very experienced, and they have grown in recent years.

“And playing against England and Australia is an incredible opportunity.

“We are coming off the qualifying campaign (last summer’s ODI World Cup) where we got past the West Indies and Zimbabwe and that has put us in a position where we are quite confident and looking forward to the opportunity to face these guys.

“Every tournament we play, we want to win every match. But we just have to dial it back and make sure we focus on every moment of every match and not look too far ahead. We also have to make sure we make the most of every moment to enjoy. .”

During that period, Scotland also defeated Ireland, Oman and UAE in the 50-over format and came through the European T20 qualifiers with a 100% record.

‘We can use the underdog card’

Bowler Brad Currie made his debut under Watson last year and described his first few days in the Caribbean as ‘surreal’.

The 25-year-old revealed he was reminiscing about childhood games with his brother Scott.

He said: “We hit the ball in our neighbors garden and our parents shouted ‘it’s not the World Cup’, but now it is!

“You grow up watching these tournaments. It’s pretty crazy. I’m not one of the big stars of the tournament, but just participating is special.”

This is the sixth T20 World Cup that Scotland have reached, having failed to win a match in 2007 and 2009 before beating Hong Kong in 2016.

In 2021, they topped a first-round group with wins over Bangladesh, Oman and Papua New Guinea before losing all five matches in the Super 12 stage.

The 2022 competition did not go so well, with Scotland failing to build on a win over the West Indies and making no progress from the first round.

“We can use the underdog card,” Currie added. “There aren’t too many expectations, so I want to try to enjoy it and not see it as a nerve-wracking event.”

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