Kolkata the stage as England, Scotland resume auld rivalry

Scotland vs England. The sense of occasion isn't lost on Scotland captain Richie Berrington. Earlier this week, Berrington dared to dream of the headlines should his side beat England in Kolkata a matter of hours before the Scotland rugby team face England in the Six Nations with the Calcutta Cup on the line.

Both Scotland teams are underdogs but, unlike their rugby counterparts who are licking their wounds after a poor showing against Italy last weekend, Berrington's men are coming off the back of a resounding 73-run win over an Italian team making their debut at this tournament and ruffling some feathers along the way.

"That rivalry has always been there between Scotland and England, obviously a long history there between the two nations, it's there in every sport," Berrington said. "But yeah, next Saturday's going to be exciting. We've also got the Scotland rugby team taking on England the same day, so it would make quite a nice headline if Scotland has two wins on the Saturday."

As banana skins go, this should be one England back themselves to avoid. But it will be no easy stroll, especially with another unexpected obstacle down the road in Italy, surprise 10-wicket winners against Nepal, who had themselves pushed England to the max in their opening match of this T20 World Cup.

Both of England's remaining group-stage opponents pose an element of the unknown, a point noted at the start of the tournament by Mark Watt, Scotland's veteran left-arm spinner making his fifth World Cup appearance. "Quite funny thinking about the England analysis team trying to find club cricket games of some of our youngsters," Watt said. "We've all had a laugh about that." England have never played Italy and, in their only previous T20I meeting with Scotland - at the last World Cup in Barbados - George Munsey and Michael Jones staged an unbroken opening partnership worth 90 before the match was washed out.

Only Jofra Archer and Adil Rashid remain from the bowling line-up which took the field that day, the latter going at 13 runs an over from his two overs. And while those figures are reminiscent of Rashid's three wicketless overs at 14.00 against Nepal, he turned that around against West Indies, where he was easily the pick of England's bowlers in a losing cause on a turning Wankhede pitch.

If they trip up in their first outing in Kolkata, where Scotland have already played their first two matches of this World Cup, England's last group encounter with Italy becomes crucial. So too does Scotland's final clash with Nepal. On paper, England's progression to the Super 8s should be assured, but they absolutely cannot take their Associate opponents lightly.

So far, this campaign has shown England need more consistency from their enviably deep batting line-up. Half-centuries to Jacob Bethell and Harry Brook still required the back-up of Will Jacks' 18-ball 39 against Nepal and, even then, it took Sam Curran's sublime death bowling to let them escape with victory. Against West Indies, it was Curran who ran out of partners and captain Brook believed his charges were "too careful" chasing. For Scotland, they need more than just the few plucky moments they produced in a 35-run loss to West Indies. They need everything to fire, as it did against Italy, and then some, to be in with a shot.

England: LWWWW (last five completed T20Is, most recent first)
Scotland: WLLLW

Three consecutive single-figure scores across this tournament and the Sri Lanka series that preceded it leave Tom Banton searching for runs, particularly amid calls for Harry Brook to leapfrog him into the No. 4 spot. An unbeaten 54 in a Player-of-the-Match performance against Sri Lanka in the second of their three games in the lead-up suggests the touch is there. Now he must rediscover it at a time when his side needs it most.

Having managed just one run against West Indies as Munsey too departed cheaply after a promising start, Michael Jones further highlighted the importance of Scotland's opening duo with a 30-ball 37 in a 126-run stand - Munsey struck 84 off 54 - that set up victory over Italy. With the quality of the opposition now magnified, it is imperative that he supports his partner with an even bigger contribution to a union that could prove critical in getting enough runs on the board against England.

England confirmed an unchanged XI on the eve of the match, with Jamie Overton preferred to Luke Wood in the attack.

England: 1 Phil Salt, 2 Jos Buttler (wk), 3 Jacob Bethell, 4 Tom Banton, 5 Harry Brook (capt), 6 Sam Curran, 7 Will Jacks, 8 Liam Dawson, 9 Jamie Overton, 10 Jofra Archer, 11 Adil Rashid

Brad Wheal, who replaced Safyaan Sharif for the win over Italy, said Scotland had not made any decisions on their side.

Scotland: (possible) 1 George Munsey, 2 Michael Jones, 3 Brandon McMullen, 4 Richie Berrington (capt), 5 Tom Bruce, 6 Michael Leask, 7 Matthew Cross (wk), 8 Mark Watt, 9 Oliver Davidson, 10 Brad Wheal, 11 Brad Currie

So far at this World Cup, the Eden Gardens pitch has shown that there are runs on offer, even if in lopsided results, with a good batting surface improving into the evening. Scotland reached 207 for 4 before bowling Italy out for 134 and West Indies made 182 for 5 before a five-wicket haul from seamer Romario Shepherd kept Scotland to 147 all out. In the IPL, it has been a high-scoring ground in recent years, too. The weather forecast is perfectly pleasant for this day-night game; mostly sunny, up to 30 degrees Celsius, with low humidity.

"There's always a bit of that [energy], definitely from their side as well. Knowing a few of their boys, this is a bit of a special game for them. An opportunity to upset England is most Scotsman's dream. That being said, it's another game of cricket at this World Cup, and we've got to bring the best version of ourselves, really simple."
Phil Salt on the countries' historic rivalry

"Obviously I think it almost puts a little bit more pressure on these games for us because it is our only real opportunity to show the world that we can play against these top-tier nations. I don't think it changes much in terms of how we approach these games but it's definitely in the back of a few guys' minds that these opportunities don't come around every day for a team like us."
Brad Wheal on Scotland's desire to take their chance