Scotland Confident Ahead of Crucial Match Against Australia in T20 World Cup
Scotland have impressed in the limited play they have been able to get in the ongoing T20 World Cup. After comfortably beating Namibia, they went on to thrash Oman, putting themselves in a strong position to qualify for the next round. However, England’s dominant win over the same Oman side has now put them ahead of Scotland on net run-rate.
While there are unlikely scenarios where Scotland could progress even in the event of a loss, the team is treating the upcoming match against Australia as a “must-win” game. As per all-rounder Michael Leask, “We knew coming into this game it would be. England had two tough games to play and they’ve played the first one very well. We always knew this was going to be a must-win game for us and it’s a hell of an opportunity for us to go and play really good cricket and take on one of the best in the world.”
“Our boys are firing, we’ve got some good skill sets, some nice spinners, some good seamers and then batters who are playing really well… It’s going to have to be two or three batters in that batting innings that are really going to have to put Australia under the pump with a ball. We know that it’s capable of happening and that’s possible.”
- Michael Leask, Scotland all-rounder
Former captain Kyle Coetzer believes that if Scotland were to progress, it would be the greatest achievement in Scottish cricket history. Earlier this week, there was speculation about Australia bowler Josh Hazlewood discussing ways to manipulate the game to help Scotland’s net run-rate and potentially knock out England, but team-mate Pat Cummins has since clarified that the idea was not considered.
Scotland have had several contributors with the bat in their three previous matches, including Leask, captain Richie Berrington, openers George Munsey and Michael Jones, and number three Brandon McMullen. Leask is confident about his team’s chances, stating, “Our boys are firing, we’ve got some good skill sets, some nice spinners, some good seamers and then batters who are playing really well… It’s going to have to be two or three batters in that batting innings that are really going to have to put Australia under the pump with a ball. We know that it’s capable of happening and that’s possible.”
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