Improved Scotland out for ‘blood’ in historic Australia T20 series | cricket.com.au

Scotland talisman Mark Watt has declared the Saltires are out for “blood” this week as the world’s 13th-ranked men’s T20 team dream of toppling a new-look Australian outfit.

The charismatic left-armer was one of his team’s best during their most recent encounter at the T20 World Cup in June, a match he feels they let slip away, vowing to make amends in this week’s three-game series in Edinburgh.

It will be the first time the two nations have met in a multi-game bilateral series with Australia only touring Scotland for one-off ODIs in 2009 and 2013 outside of their four World Cup meetings.

Cricket in Scotland has come a long way since Aaron Finch (148), Shaun Marsh (151) and Mitchell Johnson (4-36) engineered a 200-run thrashing in that 2013 fixture, and while Australia have rested their entire first-string pace attack as well as Glenn Maxwell, captain Mitch Marsh remains on guard.

The tourists have settled on their XI for the first T20 at The Grange on Wednesday afternoon (11pm AEST) but Marsh said they will wait until the toss to reveal it, wary not to give the Scots a head start.

“Scotland are a good cricket team and they’ve improved a lot over the last little period of time,” he said.

“They’re well drilled … and they’re going to provide a good challenge for us, so it’s going to be a great series.”

It’s a series many in the Scottish camp believe they can realistically win having taken onboard the lessons of that agonising final-over loss in St Lucia which saw them eliminated from the T20 World Cup as England progressed on net run-rate.

“I think we’re after a little bit of blood this week, and not just win a game but win the series,” Watt told Cricket Scotland’s website.

“We can definitely take inspiration from that game in St Lucia, but we also have a little bit of a point to prove as we all believe we should have won that game and kicked on further in the World Cup.

“We can say we got close, but actually in the back of our heads we’re disappointed that we didn’t win.

“I think it would be right up there, not just winning one game, but winning the series – that would be right up there with the best achievement Scotland have ever had.”

His captain Richie Berrington is the only remaining player from either side to have played in that 2013 Scotland-Australia contest, also featuring in the 2009 match (that Australia won by 189 runs) where he recalls facing Brett Lee as a wide-eyed 22-year-old.

Having been a key part of the evolution of Scottish cricket across his 16-year international career, the now 37-year-old is adamant they won’t be nearly as overawed this week given their increasing exposure to international opposition.

There’s also the high-pressure World Cup qualifying matches, where the difference between winning and losing, and qualifying and not qualifying, can be the difference between whether a player needs to find another job.

Since Australia last visited The Grange 11 years ago, Scotland have qualified for the past four T20 World Cups, as well as the 2015 50-over edition, claiming the scalps of England and West Indies along the way.

“Since (2013) we’ve managed to gain a lot of experience in World Cups playing against some of the bigger teams, some of the Test nations, and managed to pick up a few wins along the way, which has given us a lot of confidence and belief as a cricketing nation,” Berrington told cricket.com.au ahead of the first T20I.

“We do play a lot of high-pressure games, often there’s a lot on the line to win the game, so we are used to that.

“But against the bigger teams the margins get even smaller.

“Every experience you have against these teams you have to learn from it and learn really quickly.

“I think we showed when we play our best cricket that we can compete and I think the more we get these opportunities to play against the likes of Australia, we get that exposure, you learn in those moments how to get over the line against some of the best players.

“There’s definitely a lot of positives to take out of some of the cricket we played in the World Cup and that last game against Australia, but ultimately, we were disappointed we didn’t quite manage to get over the line, so this week presents another great opportunity to try and do that.”

It’s expected batting sensation Jake Fraser-McGurk will make his T20 international debut at the top of the order as retired great David Warner’s replacement.

“Winning the series for Australia, that’s always really important for us,” Marsh said. “There’s certain guys that will get opportunities and with that comes a lot of excitement around the series.”

Qantas Tour of the UK 2024

Australia T20 squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Sean Abbott, Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood (England games only), Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Riley Meredith (Scotland games only), Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa

September 4: First T20 v Scotland, The Grange, Edinburgh, 11pm AEST

September 6: Second T20 v Scotland, The Grange, Edinburgh, 11pm AEST

September 7: Third T20 v Scotland, The Grange, Edinburgh, 11pm AEST

September 11: First T20 v England, Rose Bowl, Southampton, 3.30am Sept 12 AEST

September 13: Second T20 v England, Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, 3.30am Sept 14 AEST

September 15: Third T20 v England, Old Trafford Manchester, 11.30pm AEST

Australia ODI squad: Mitch Marsh (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Short, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa

September 19: First ODI v England, Trent Bridge, Nottingham, 10pm AEST

September 21: Second ODI v England, Headingley, Leeds, 10pm AEST

September 24: Third ODI v England, Riverside, Chester-le-Street, 10pm AEST

September 27: Fourth ODI v England, Lord’s, London, 10pm AEST

September 29: Fifth ODI v England, County Ground, Bristol, 8pm AEST