England vs Scotland predictions: Expect runs in England’s tournament opener | LiveScore

– England had individual scores over 62.5 in three of their last five completed T20Is
– Scotland have lost three of their last four completed T20Is
– Recommended bet: Highest individual score to be over 62.5

England were crowned champions at the T20 World Cup in Australia two years ago but a lot has changed for the white-ball team since then.

A disastrous ODI World Cup campaign in 2023 has put pressure on head coach Matthew Mott and England need a response in the game’s shortest format.

Fortunately for Jos Buttler’s men, their opener in the West Indies and the USA should not cause too many problems as they take on minnows Scotland.

Whether or not England have learned their lessons from previous failures will not become clear until the tournament’s latter stages but they must first navigate their group opener.

England’s top order is not short of quality with Jos Buttler, Phil Salt, Will Jacks and Jonny Bairstow set to lead the assault with the bat.

Jofra Archer is back in the team after injuries hampered his involvement last year and Adil Rashid will lead England’s spin attack.

Scotland will be looking to George Munsey for runs as he was his country’s top scorer at the 2022 T20 World Cup, while Richie Berrington will once again captain the side.

In three of their last five completed T20 internationals, England have had a highest individual score of 63 runs or more.

Phil Salt is averaging 55.57 in his last seven T20s for England in a run stretching back to the start of December 2023.

This will be Scotland’s third successive appearance at the T20 World Cup after they won all six of their qualifiers to book their spot at the tournament.

However, they head into this tournament having lost three of their last four completed T20 assignments.

England’s World Cup warm-up series with Pakistan was majorly impacted by rain, but they came up trumps in both of the completed matches.

They won the second T20 by 23 runs at Edgbaston thanks to a knock of 84 from Buttler, while the skipper contributed 39 and Salt put on 45 in a low-scoring victory in the fourth T20 last Thursday.

That should boost England’s confidence heading into their tournament opener and they will be after an explosive batting performance, especially with rivals Australia to come in their second match of the group stage.

England’s batters can be expected to leave nothing to chance and they have form behind them.

Buttler was named player of the series in the truncated battle with Pakistan, while Salt’s last seven T20 international totals read 40, 25, 109 not out, 119, 38, 13 and 45.

He is likely to be closer to the higher end of those figures against Scotland, especially if England bat first, and at least one of England’s big hitters should hit the 63-run mark.