Scotland openers make the running before rain frustrates in Barbados
Scotland showed that they mean business at this T20 World Cup with Michael Jones and George Munsey forging ahead to 90 without loss in an innings cut in half by heavy rain. But the weather eventually ruined their opening match against defending champions England.An untimely rain squall, followed by a damp spot on the pitch, delayed the start by 55 minutes after Scotland had won the toss and opted to bat. A much heavier storm arrived to halt proceedings again just two balls after the powerplay with Scotland reaching 51 for nought off the back of some assured hitting from Jones, who was unbeaten on 30 from 20 balls at the time, and Munsey, who had earlier been let off by a Mark Wood no-ball.By the time the skies cleared and the ground was mopped up sufficiently, the match had been reduced to 10 overs per side. Jones and Munsey added 39 runs in the remaining 3.4 overs after the restart to push their score to 90 without loss and England were set an adjusted target of 109 to win. But as soon as they finished, the rain returned for good and condemned the contest to a wash-out.
Scotland start swiftly…
Wood found some late inswing with the first ball of the match, which had Munsey on the hop immediately. But Munsey settled to pick up Wood’s fourth ball from outside off stump and power it over mid-on for four. Munsey had reached 16 when he skied a Wood delivery towards deep third with Jos Buttler running back from behind the stumps to take the catch. However, the sound of the no-ball siren dampened England’s celebrations as replays showed Wood had over-stepped by a considerable margin.Scotland were 34 without loss after that fifth over, then Jones swung Chris Jordan for an 87-metre six which smashed a solar panel on the roof of the stand beyond deep midwicket. It was the first of three consecutive boundaries, the next a four punched through the covers and another scything through midwicket, as Jones took 15 runs off the over to power his side to the end of the powerplay on 49 for nought. He and Munsey added just two more runs, however, before more rain arrived and halted play for the best part of two hours.
… And finish stronglyPlay resumed with 3.4 overs remaining in Scotland’s innings. With Jofra Archer and Wood unavailable with a new maximum of two overs per bowler, Adil Rashid was introduced to bowl the eighth over. Jones clubbed Rashid’s first ball over long-on for six and Munsey chimed in with a four and a six to push the scoring along.England kept the faith in Jordan’s renowned death bowling despite his expensive first over and Munsey thrashed the second ball of his next over the fence at backward square for six. Rashid was more miserly in the final over, conceding just four runs off the first five balls before Jones pulled the last ball through midwicket for four to take his side to 90 without loss.Scotland captain Richie Berrington enquires about the cut-off time•Getty Images
It wasn’t a chanceless innings after the restart with Munsey surviving an England review for caught behind off a googly in Rashid’s first over and Jones making his ground despite his bat sticking in the pitch as he ran over the crease to beat a direct hit when the Scotland duo took a second run off Jordan’s last ball. At that moment, the rain returned, but the 10 overs were completed, all to no avail as the showers set in.
Archer’s homecoming
Having waited so long to play international cricket in his birthplace of Bridgetown, Archer’s comeback continued with a two-over spell, the first going for 10 runs, all to Jones who pounced on some extra width to dispatch his third ball through the covers for four. Archer’s second over was much tighter as he deployed his leg-cutter and only conceded two singles, closing with a short, fast delivery which brushed Jones’ glove as he attempted to pull and, fortunately for the batter, didn’t reach Buttler behind the stumps.Archer’s appearance in the second T20I at home against Pakistan late last month was his first professional match in more than a year following a lengthy battle with injuries. There, he took 2 for 28 and hit speeds of 92mph/148kph which further soured this rain-affected match. Amid the rain restrictions, England could only wonder what more he might have done.