England's title defense got off to a gloomy start as their match against Scotland at Kensington Oval, Barbados was abandoned due to rain. Only 10 overs of game was possible as rain had the last laugh. However, there were a few learnings for England as they failed to break the opening partnership which posted 90 runs on the board.
Jos Buttler did not pick England’s T20 World Cup 2022 ‘Player of the series’ Sam Curran in the side. Instead, he went with the extra pace of Jofra Archer and Mark Wood along with Chris Jordan. After the game, Buttler revealed that the selection was a difficult part as usual. Along with Curran, Reece Topley was on the bench too. Both left-arm pacers could have provided variety to the bowling attack.
“It was a tough call, we thought the extra pace of Wood and Archer, we liked it as a combination, but we have got a lot of different options, selection is always going to be the difficult part. Topley has got skills with the new ball,” he said after England and Scotland shared one point each.
Buttler was left disappointed after the game was called off.
“We just wanted to get underway and get a full game and stuff, but that has not happened, that's the situation we find ourselves in. Hopefully we get a dry game into the next one and we can get into the tournament,” he said.
Scotland skipper frustrated but lauds openers
Openers George Munsey and Michael Jones shared an unbeaten 90-run partnership in 10 overs. Scotland skipper Richie Berrington was frustrated with the result but was happy with how the openers performed.
“I think everyone's frustrated, not able to get in a game, but some positives to take from it at least. I thought our openers did a really good job, we could take something from that. Frustrated we couldn't get a full game in. We certainly gave ourselves a chance. It would have been interesting to see how the weather affected the pitch. There was some uneven bounce, something that we expected through the day. We certainly had an opportunity there,” Berrington said.
“It's the role he (Jones) has played for us before. He can bat anywhere in the batting order, but at the top he is exciting and we saw that today. Hopefully we'll see plenty of that from him. Munsey has been in good form, he can be hard to bowl at. George has got different skills, not sure if I can do the same,” he added.
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