Jos Buttler says England will rise to the tough challenge of Scotland in their opening T20 World Cup match in Barbados on Tuesday.
England begin the defence of their title won in Australia in 2022 in Bridgetown (3.30pm BST) in their opening game of Group B which also features the Scots, Australia, Namibia and Oman.
Despite England’s preparations being hit by two of their four warm-up matches at home to Pakistan falling foul of the weather last month, skipper Buttler told BBC Sport his team were ‘excited’ to get going in an expanded tournament featuring 20 teams from around the globe.
He said: “It’s a great place to be, here in Barbados on the eve of our first World Cup game so yeah very excited.”
“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 focussed on is that Scotland match. That is the biggest and most important thing right now.”
Jos Buttler and Mitchell Marsh in press conference ahead of T20 World Cup. pic.twitter.com/pveAzfcApe
— Himanshu Pareek (@Sports_Himanshu) June 2, 2024
Scotland upset England in their last meeting in an ODI in Edinburgh six years ago and Buttler knows they cannot take their opponents lightly.
“We know there is expectation but I am fully focussed on what we need to do,” he said.
“We need to prepare really well. We expect a tough challenge. We need to train well, prepare well and play well.”
The track in Bridgetown will be the same one on which Namibia beat Oman in a thrilling finale on Monday, with only 218 runs scored in 40 overs with 16 wickets falling before Namibia won in a super over after the scores were tied.
Buttler said the pitch wasn’t an undue concern and added: “We have always mentioned to the guys to assess conditions and play accordingly – what does the team need from you?
“It is not in the batters favour all of the time in T20 cricket we need to be able to adapt and communicate well as a team and work out what will be a winning score.
“We are trying not to play the game before the game has been played. It is good to be here and get a feel for conditions but on each day you have to be ready to adapt, read conditions and share that with the team.”
