BRIDGETOWN (Barbados): Scotland captain Richie Berrington said that his side were frustrated at missing out on an opportunity to beat England after their opening T20 World Cup fixture was washed out on Tuesday.

Scotland openers George Munsey and Michael Jones gave England a fright before rain spared the defending champions a potentially tough chase. They batted superbly to take Scotland to 90-0 in a rain-interrupted innings of 10 overs at the Kensington Oval.

“I think we certainly gave ourselves a chance there,” Berrington said, on the prospect of an upset.

“It would have been interesting to see how the weather would have affected the pitch because it did look a little bit of uneven bounce, as we expected during the day. I think if we bowled and fielded well, we certainly had an opportunity there.

“I think everyone’s frustrated, not being able to get a game in there. Some positives to take, at least. The guys who went out to the middle I thought did a really good job. Now looking ahead, they’ve had some time out there and we can take some things from that. But certainly, we’re frustrated we couldn’t get a full game in.”

England captain Jos Buttler, however, was confident of chasing down that score.

“We expected a tough challenge, there are no easy games, but we were confident coming into the game,” said Buttler. “It’s [a] disappointment for everyone… We scrapped hard and we were confident of chasing that score down.”

Buttler explained that the team wanted to play the match and also expressed hope for playing their next match in better weather conditions.

“We just wanted to get underway and get a full game and stuff, but that has not happened, that’s the situation we find ourselves in. Hopefully, we get a dry game into the next one and we can get into the tournament,” he said.

England white-ball coach Matthew Mott shared Berrington’s disappointment at being unable to complete the match, but he had his side as favourites at the halfway stage, given the power hitters within the line-up and the fact Scotland would have had to bowl with a wet ball on a surface that would have skidded on, given the extra moisture.

“I think we had all the advantage in that,” Mott said. “I think it was going to be a wet ball, 10 wickets in hand, only 10 overs. I think if we got back out there, I thought it would have been tough on Scotland given the start that they had.

“But I thought it was well within our grasp to achieve that. I think the way we’re looking to play, we’d look to be at that mark in a 20-over game. So, yeah, I think we were very confident.

“Those who’ve watched a lot of T10 cricket, I think that was certainly an achievable chase and we probably would have had all the things in our favour. It was frustrating not to get back out there, but that’s the way it is.”

Published in Dawn, June 6th, 2024