‘Important Not To…’: Jos Buttler Opens Up On Used Barbados Pitch Ahead of England Vs Scotland T20 WC Clash

Defending champions England will begin their T20 World Cup 2024 campaign against Scotland on Tuesday at Kensington Oval in Barbados. The match will be played on the same pitch which produced a 218-runs tied game between Namibia and Oman on Sunday night.

The Jos Buttler-led England are heavy favourites against Scotland but the slow, low surface could make life difficult for their batters. The evidence from the Namibia versus Oman game suggested that there could be variable bounce on a sticky surface on which wickets fell in clusters.

After leading Namibia to win in the Super Over, David Wiese said the pitch was “a difficult wicket to start on the whole time… once you got wickets, you got wickets in clusters.”

On the other hand, Zeeshan Maqsood, Oman’s ex-captain, suggested that Saturday’s rain in Barbados had impacted the pitch: “There was a little bit of stopping and coming, because a little wetness was there.”

Ahead of their game against Scotland, England skipper Jos Buttler said that he saw “bits and pieces” of Sunday’s match and will encourage his players to adapt and judge conditions for themselves and react accordingly, rather than heading into Tuesday’s match with “too many preconceived ideas”.

Notably, England played a five-match T20I series held entirely at Kensington Oval in early 2022, and also played an ODI and a T20I there when they toured the Caribbean in December last year.

“We’ve played some games here, so we know what conditions can be like. But it’s important not to have too many preconceived ideas and assume the pitch will play in a certain way. We’ve got to be prepared. That’s where communication and assessing conditions quickly – with bat or ball – will be key to the game,” said Buttler.

“We are trying not to play the game before the game has been played. It’s good to be here and get a feel for conditions, but on each day, you have to be ready to adapt… it is not in the batters’ favour all of the time in T20 cricket. We need to be able to adapt and communicate well as a team, and work out what will be a winning score,” the England skipper told BBC.

Meanwhile, former West Indies all-rounder Kieron Pollard has joined the England men’s cricket team as their assistant coach for this T20 World Cup in Barbados.

The 37-year-old Pollard has spoken to the players about the impact that stiff crosswinds can have in the Caribbean.

“That’s part of selection discussions and team discussions, being aware of the wind and right-hand/left-hand combinations. [Pollard] has fitted in really well. Some of the guys have played with him, or played lots of cricket against him, so have a nice relationship to start from. Obviously, he’s got a wealth of T20 knowledge and everyone should have been tapping into that, sponging up any really good information that he’s got for us,” Buttler said.

“And obviously, [he knows about] local conditions. He knows everything about the Caribbean, and he’s got that winner’s mindset. I think that’s something that we’re really tapping into. He’s won a lot of competitions around the world… it’s great to have guys like that around the group,” he added.

The 33-year-old also refused to give any clues about England’s XI for the opening match.

“I think we’ve got lots of really good options, from No. 1 to 15. We picked a squad with a lot of different options, and we’ve got to work out what we feel is the best combination for the first game,” said Buttler.