Bridgetown [Barbados], June 5 (ANI): Scotland batter Michael Jones confessed that his team was disappointed that they missed out on a chance to beat England after their first T20 World Cup match was washed out due to rain in Barbados.
In the maiden T20I match meeting between the two countries, Scotland took the initiative between rain intervals, setting the reigning champions a DLS target of 109 from 10 overs. Unfortunately, a further downpour after their innings had ended on 90 for no loss proved fatal, with both sides settling for a point in Group B.
After winning the toss, captain Richie Berrington’s decision to bat on an uncertain Kensington Oval pitch was vindicated when openers Michael Jones and George Munsey scored 51 in 6.2 overs before a lengthy stoppage in play. With the match cut to 10 overs per side, the pair returned to the middle to add 39 runs from their remaining 22 deliveries.
“I think we can take confidence from the start that we’ve had. Obviously, George and I had a good partnership out there and we knew the challenges we were going to face, the pace that England have through Mark Wood and Archer in particular. So, it was all about trying to combat that but I think we take confidence from the start that we’ve had but also match that with some frustrations knowing that if the game is going to be restricted, particularly to, I don’t know, five – six, whatever, how many overs it was going to be restricted to – we had a really good chance of winning that game, I think,” Jones said in a presentation.
With rain halting play for more than two hours, the game was reduced to ten overs each side; Jofra Archer and Mark Wood were ruled out of bowling again under the altered conditions after bowling two overs.
“I think possibly if you asked us before the game, do you want to point from this game? We might well have taken it, but taking on England and being in that position, it’s actually really frustrating knowing that we had a really good chance to win the game. But yeah, the rain beat us, so there you go,” he added.
Before the game was abandoned, England faced the threat of a shortened five-over clash.
“Yeah, I mean, if that’s sort of how we were going to finish the game, then definitely, yeah. I think it was probably – the game was more in our favour if the game was going to be shorter, arguably. So yeah, definitely if it meant that the game was only going to be six overs, then we probably would have happily gone out to field knowing that, I don’t know how many the total would have been, but you know, we would have been in a strong position to say the least,” he added.
George Munsey (41* runs from 31 balls, 4 fours and 2 sixes) and Michael Jones (45* runs from 30 balls, 4 fours and 2 sixes) opened for the Scottish side and showcased a solid performance as they played a 90-run partnership.
After the end of the second ball of the seventh over, the match was stopped due to rain. However, the game was resumed as soon as the rain stopped and it was reduced to a 10-over match.
The two openers controlled the match and smashed against the English bowlers as they propelled Scotland to 90/0 after the end of 10 overs. However, during the inning break rain again disrupted the match and the officials had to abandon the game. It was the first game of the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024 which was washed away.
Currently, England hold the second place in the Group B standings with just one point. Meanwhile, Scotland stand in the third spot with one point. (ANI)
