Scotland continues the European tradition of haunting England in T20 WCs | ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, 2024

England are one of the only two teams to have won the T20 World Cup twice. Heading into the 2024 edition of the tournament, they are the defending champions and again among the favorites to add to their trophy cabinet. 

However, for one of the more successful sides in tournament history, England have hit a rut against their European neighbors. In nine editions, they have never beaten Netherlands, Ireland and Scotland, having played five games against them. 

Two have ended with no results, while they have lost thrice. The Three Lions have been double-Dutched, losing to Netherlands in 2009 and 2014 edition. In 2022, they lost to Ireland by five runs on the DLS method. 

In 2024, facing Scotland in their tournament opener, England went wicketless after being asked to bowl first. The match was abandoned after Scotland’s innings, which was reduced to 10 overs. 

The Scotland openers batted through their alloted overs, scoring 90 runs. It is the first occasion of England not taking a wicket in a completed T20 World Cup innings, irrespective of the number of overs bowled. 

George Munsey scored 41 off 31 deliveries while his right-handed opening partner, Michael Jones contributed 45 from 30 balls. Both batters struck four fours and two sixes each. 

The duo started on a cautious note, scoring 34 runs in the first five overs. Jones took on Chris Jordan to take full monty out of the last powerplay over, smashing two fours and a six in the sixth over. 

Rain then halted the game for a couple of hours with Scotland’s score reading 51/0 in 6.2 overs. After resumption, when the game was curtailed to 10 overs per side, the duo added 39 runs off the remaining 22 balls. 

The DLS method adjusted England’s target to 109. However, the heavens had the final say. Another spell of showers abandoned the game without allowing England to have a crack at the chase.

While one could expect their batting might to raze it down, Scotland also stood a chance to pile on England’s miseries. 

“It would have been interesting to see how the weather affects the pitch,” said the Scotland captain Richie Berrington in the post-match interview. “Because it did look a little bit of uneven bounce through the day. So yeah, I think if we’d bowled well, we certainly had an opportunity there,” he expanded. 

“I thought we scrapped hard and we were confident of chasing that score down,” said Jos Buttler on England’s chances. Overall, it turned out to be a promising game abandoned by rain, with both sides sharing a point each.

Scotland play Namibia next on June 7 and England will lock horns with their arch-rivals, Australia, a day later. 

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