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Scotland come into the 2024 T20 World Cup with mixed form, losing three out of their last six matches. They have been drawn alongside Australia, England, Namibia, and Oman in Group B of the tournament, and are well capable of stirring the proceedings in the coming weeks.
They will open their campaign with a clash against England on June 4 at the Kensington Oval in Barbados. The Richie Berrington-led side did not fare well in their warm-up match, but will be hoping to put their best foot forward and go toe-to-toe with the defending champions.
England have had some forgettable outings against their European rivals in ICC tournaments in the past. They even suffered a loss to Ireland in their victorious 2022 T20 World Cup campaign, and Scotland will also wish to inflict similar damage.
On that note, let us take a look at three things Scotland need to do right to beat England in the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024 clash.
#1 Attack England with spin, especially against the middle order
Spin is going to be the go-to weapons for teams playing in the Caribbean, and Scotland will look to use that to their advantage against England. Jos Buttler and company have an explosive batting unit from top to bottom, that loves pace on offer.
However, they can be subdued to a certain extent if spinners play their cards well. This is where Mark Watt and Chris Greaves come in. With England being a rather right-handed dominant unit, barring Moeen Ali, the spinners, being left-arm orthodox and leg-break have favorable matchups in store for them.
The duo are also in a good run of form, particularly Watt. The left-arm spinner recently picked up a four-wicket haul against the Netherlands, and has eight wickets in his last four outings. Greaves has also complimented Watt well with his leg spin and picked up 2-13 when the left-arm spinner had picked up four wickets against the Netherlands.
#2 Survive the early test against England's pace attack
Bowlers have dominated the powerplay phase in the tournament so far, and Scotland have a huge test lined up for them as they will be up against the fearsome duo of Mark Wood and Jofra Archer.
Even if England play it safe and fields only one of the aforementioned duo due to the slow nature of the wickets, Scotland are not spared. Sam Curran and Reece Topley have proven to be quite effective on such surfaces and could put on pressure on the top order with their angle, their wide skill set and variations.
Scotland might have to deal with scorching deliveries from both ends right at the start of their innings with the bat, and it will be crucial to hold their ground. If they falter from the word go, and concede early wickets, it will be too easy for England to run through the remainder of the batting unit with spin in the middle overs.
As going all out, and playing high risk for runs, is also not an option, the Scotland top order will just have to weather the storm and find an alternate avenue to score runs off. If the top order survive and set up even a reasonable platform, the remaining batters can try to make something out of it.
#3 Maximise the advantage of a low-scoring environment
A straight-up flat deck would have virtually knocked Scotland out of the clash before a ball being bowled, at least on paper. They might have had scored 371 in an ODI against England in the past, but that is of absolutely no relevance in a World Cup contest.
With tricky conditions that England are not used to by any means, it brings Scotland into the game a little bit, despite still being heavy underdogs. These conditions almost take the English batters' explosiveness out of the equation, and they are forced to play in a manner that they do not have expertise in.
If Scotland manage to make England uncomfortable and create some momentum, it will certainly build up panic in the opposition dressing room. Even a par score in such conditions can prove to be intimidating, much like Papua New Guinea proved in their group stage clash against the West Indies.
