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T20 World Cup: Rain beat Scotland, not England – BBC Sport

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T20 World Cup: Rain beat Scotland, not England – BBC Sport

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, Michael Jones and George Munsey shared an unbeaten 90-run stand against England

  • Author, George O’Neill
  • Role, BBC Sport Scotland

Scotland’s T20 World Cup washout against England in Barbados has left them both “confident and frustrated”, according to opening batter Michael Jones.

There were signs of what was to come when the start was delayed by a passing shower, but Jones and George Munsey started quickly against England’s much-vaunted bowling attack.

They took 51 from the first 6.2 overs, unperturbed by the pace of Mark Wood and Jofra Archer, before they were taken from the field of play once more.

When they returned for a shortened 10-over match, Scotland’s opening pair added 39 more, but Richie Berrington’s side were denied the chance to defend a revised target of 109 after the heavens opened in Bridgetown.

“The rain beat us,” Jones said. “We’ve got good bowlers and we’re a good team, so it’s annoying.

“The game was more in our favour if the game was going to be shorter. We felt confident, which is why it’s so frustrating. Scotland have been done by the rain a few times at big tournaments now.

“If you’d asked us before the game if we would have taken a point, we might well have taken it, but taking on England and being in that position, it’s really frustrating.”

The Scots face Namibia on Thursday, again in Bridgetown, but Jones says they cannot afford to ease off against their fellow associate nation.

“We’ve played Namibia before and lost – and played them before and won,” the Durham man added. “We’ve got a job to do in that game. We’ll look to get a victory on the board and reassess where we are after that.”

The result leaves Group B wide open and, with Oman to come after Namibia, Scotland could go into their final group game against Australia knowing a win would take them into the Super 8s.

However, captain Berrington insists they always believed they could reach the next stage.

“We’ve come into this tournament with that mindset from the start,” he said. “I don’t think today changes that.

“It’s unfortunate we didn’t get chance to go for the win, but we know we’re going to have to beat some really good teams if we want to progress.

“We’ll move on from today, take what we can, but the next game’s going to be just as important.”

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