T20 World Cup: Marsh wants Australia to make fresh start in Super 8; skipper Berrington praises Scotland team

Scotland were knocked out of the T20 World Cup 2024 on Sunday after their narrow
five-wicket defeat to Australia
in a Group B contest. With England
winning against Namibia
, Scotland needed to beat Australia to reach the Super 8 but the defeat helped the Three Lions qualify for the second round on net run rate (NRR).

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In a must-win match, Scotland once again gave a good account of themselves, scoring 180/5 at the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium and reducing Australia to 60/3 in the second innings, before Travis Head and Marcus Stonis stitched an 80-run partnership. Quick wickets in death overs brought Scotland back into the play but Tim David finished off the things for Australia with a quick-fire 24 not out off 14 balls.

Scotland captain Richie Berrington was gutted with the defeat and said that a few more runs could have worked in their favour.

“I thought we were in a good position. We were in a great position for the first 10 overs We had a really good start but it was a good wicket and we should have executed a bit better with the bat,” he said after the match. “They have a few good strikers in their team and they managed to pull it back at the back end. There is a bit of breeze on this ground, so we were trying to make them hit away from the crease. A few overs we didn’t nail, and they capitalised.”

Berrington added that despite the early exit, his players can hold “their head up high”.

“We were expecting a bit more with the bat after the position we got ourselves in, but all the guys can hold their head up high. A fantastic knock from Travis Head and then Stoinis. We are disappointed but this is a great learning for us.”

Aussies skipper Mitchell Marsh lauded his team’s fightback against an inspired performance from Scotland.

“We knew that we had qualified. We spoke about sticking to our plans. Scotland are a good team, they have improved a lot and we certainly wanted to respect them. We just wanted to stay consistent and if we fail, we fail our way. Whenever our team is challenged, it brings the best out of us,” Marsh said.

“Today we were challenged and it was a good experience and a good game of cricket. We start fresh now. T20 is a hard format and you need to stay focused at all times.”

On media reports that Australia could underperform against Scotland to force an exit for England, Marsh said: “It was all more externally than internally, we won today. That’s all that matters.”