Barbados [West Indies], June 4 (ANI): England captain Jos Buttler assured that the defending champions are fully focused on their T20 World Cup campaign opener against Scotland.
England will look to produce a better challenge to other teams while defending their crown at the marquee event.
Last year during their ODI World Cup title defence, England endured a woeful tournament. Out of their three victories, the Three Lions registered two wins after getting knocked out in the group stage.
Ahead of their tournament opener on Tuesday, Buttler asserted that the team will bring 100 per cent intensity into the game.
“We expect a tough challenge and we’re all excited for that. They’ve come here to try and win games. They want to beat us and we want to beat them, it’s pretty straightforward,” Buttler said as quoted from Sky Sports.
“We’re fully focused on this game and need to make sure we bring 100 per cent intensity to that first of all. Every game we have to be right on it. All we are focused on is Scotland. That is the biggest and most important thing right now,” he added.
While England eye a win, their neighbours Scotland are looking at the game as an opportunity to produce an upset in the campaign opener.
“It is a typical derby, isn’t it? Any game, any sport between Scotland and England, there is going to be some hype about it. We have kept quite grounded as a squad regardless of who we have been playing,” Scotland’s Chris Greaves told Sky Sports News:
“We are pretty switched on and don’t want to look too far ahead. Some people would call us [beating England] an upset but we have done it before so we say, ‘why not?’ It is a great opportunity,” he added.
Scotland have experienced the feeling of standing victorious over their neighbours in 2018. Vice-captain Matthew Cross feels that their previous victory will boost the confidence within the team.
“I don’t think anyone’s really been talking about [the ODI win in 2018] but it’s there in the back of the memory that we’ve done this before, beaten teams like England, so it’s a confidence booster,” Cross said.
“It takes one or two individuals to have their best day. That’s the sort of the message we send: if you have your best day, we’re going to be pretty close to winning the game,” he added.
England squad: Jos Buttler (c), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonathan Bairstow, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, Tom Hartley, Will Jacks, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, Mark Wood
Scotland: Richie Berrington (c), Matthew Cross, Brad Currie, Chris Greaves, Oli Hairs, Jack Jarvis, Michael Jones, Michael Leask, Brandon McMullen, George Munsey, Safyaan Sharif, Chris Sole, Charlie Tear, Mark Watt, Brad Wheal. (ANI)
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