England captain Jos Buttler stated that his side will not be underestimating Scotland ahead of their first match of the T20 World Cup 2024 which will be played at Kensington Oval, Barbados on Tuesday.
The match between England and Scotland is going to be the first time both teams will be meeting in a T20I and their first in any format since 2018, when the Scots thumped the English team in Edinburgh.
England are the obvious favourites for the encounter due to their squad but Buttler doesn’t want to underestimate the Scottish side and wants to give his players their all to start the World Cup on a high note.
A win tomorrow would be crucial for England as they will be facing Australia next in what may be one of the best matches of the World Cup.
“We expect a tough challenge and we’re all excited for that,” Buttler said as quoted by BBC. “They’ve come here to try and win games. They want to beat us and we want to beat them, so it’s pretty straightforward.
“There’s a good feeling amongst the team, we’ve had some good performances, but we’re fully focused on this game and we need to make sure we bring 100 per cent intensity to that first of all.
“Every game we have to be right on it. All we are focused on is that Scotland match and that is the biggest and most important thing right now.”
England recently played two T20Is against Pakistan where they emerged victorious after a dominant display by their batting as well as bowling. Jofra Archer made his comeback to the field after 14 months and he is likely to be named in the playing XI for tomorrow’s match.
“Obviously he’s a real cool, calm, collected guy, but I’m sure there’s some emotion around that as well,” said Buttler on Archer.
“So it’s about understanding that he might be feeling those things. I’m sure he’ll have a lot of close friends and family here watching and I’m sure he’ll be desperate to perform well in front of them.
“We know what he’s capable of but we just need to allow him to be for a bit and not expect too much.”
England T20 World Cup squad
Jos Buttler (c), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonathan Bairstow, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, Tom Hartley, Will Jacks, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, Mark Wood
England T20 World Cup fixtures
4 June: v Scotland @ Barbados
8 June: v Australia @ Barbados
13 June: v Oman @Antigua
15 June: v Namibia @ Antigua
- Jos Buttler
