Match details
England vs Scotland
Bridgetown, 10.30am local
Big picture: Auld Enemies, New Frontiers
England and Scotland’s sporting rivalry famously began at the Kennington Oval way back in 1870, with a series of unofficial football contests that gave rise – one year later – to the world’s first rugby international, at Raeburn Place in Edinburgh, and then to the first (Association) football international, at Hamilton Crescent in Glasgow in 1872.
And yet, it’s taken a wee while longer for that neighbourly dispute to come to fruition in the third of Great Britain’s Big Three team sports. England and Scotland did not get round to an official ODI until 2008 (fittingly, the contest was a dank washout), and now it has required a trek across the Atlantic – to the Kensington Oval in Barbados, no less – for the two teams to be unleashed in the sport’s most zeitgeisty format.
On paper, it’s an unequal contest. For the second time in the space of eight months, England are defending a global title, but unlike the confused ciphers who endured a six-week humiliation at the ODI World Cup in October and November, Jos Buttler’s T20 outfit looks fit and firing despite a frustrating experience during their warm-up series against Pakistan.
And yet… as England’s muddied oafs of yesteryear know all too well from a history of intermittent but wildly acclaimed setbacks, there’s no situation that leans more perfectly into Scotland’s self-image as the aggrieved underdog than a self-confident England strutting inevitably towards another glory.
Form guide
England WWLWW (Last five completed matches; most recent first)
ScotlandLWLWW
In the spotlight: Archer and Watt
Pitch and conditions:
Team news
England’s rain-affected home series with Pakistan meant they were forced to compromise their intended preparations, but in the first completed match at Edgbaston they did field what looks like being their first-choice XI for this campaign, with Archer’s return to his roots allied to that of two further players of Bajan upbringing – Salt and Chris Jordan, whose all-round power has been preferred to that of their star of the 2022 T20 World Cup, Sam Curran. Reece Topley, the most luckless campaigner in recent England history, is likely to be preferred to Mark Wood, despite the latter’s brisk return to action at The Oval, and will be steering clear of the boundary ropes after his freak injury in Brisbane in 2022.
England (probable): 1 Jos Buttler (capt & wk), 2 Phil Salt, 3 Will Jacks, 4 Jonny Bairstow, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Moeen Ali, 7 Liam Livingstone, 8 Chris Jordan, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Reece Topley
Scotland (possible): 1 George Munsey, 2 Michael Jones, 3 Brandon McMullen, 4 Richie Berrington (capt), 5 Matt Cross (wk), 6 Michael Leask, 7 Chris Greaves, 8 Mark Watt, 9 Brad Wheal, 10 Chris Sole, 11 Brad Currie
Stats that matter
Quotes
“It feels like a real World Cup, lots of teams involved. There are never any easy games. Every game we have to be right on it and match the intensity required for the game. All we are focused on is that Scotland match. That is the biggest and most important thing right now.”
Jos Buttler, England’s captain, is keeping his eyes firmly on the task at hand.
“It’s a really exciting opportunity for us as an Associate nation to get to play England. Although we’re very close to England we don’t seem to play them very often but we’ve got great memories from the last time, so to get to play them at a World Cup is pretty special.”
Matthew Cross evokes Scotland’s 2018 win before the Barbados rematch
Andrew Miller is UK editor of ESPNcricinfo. @miller_cricket