England overcome a fighting Scotland by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

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Scorecard:	England v Scotland
Player:	EJG Morgan, RS Bopara, KP Pietersen, RM Haq, KJ Coetzer, CJO Smith
Event:	ICC World Twenty20 2009

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DateLine: 2nd June 2009

 

England won but were not particularly impressive against Scotland in the first warm-up match for the hosts as they began their attempt to upset the formbook and win the Twenty20 World Cup.

 

Scotland skipper Gavin Hamilton won the toss and elected to bat but the side’s inexperience at top-level competition was evident as they struggled to get the England seamers off the square.

 

It was left to Kyle Coetzer and Colin Smith to get Scotland going after the openers struggled. They were involved in a 62-run stand for the third wicket, with Smith using the long handle well, scoring 45 off 32 deliveries.

 

But Scotland did themselves no favours as they lost their way at the end of the innings, especially with wickets still in hand. They managed to score only eight runs in the last two overs, the 20th by Stuart Broad going for just two runs, as they failed to put up enough of a score.

 

However, England too didn’t really set the stands on fire chasing the total. They looked a bit out of sorts with young Luke Wright looking wrong up top, leaving Ravi Bopara having to do most of the scoring.

 

Scotland fielded enthusiastically but the bowling was largely defiant more than destructive, with only Majid Haq coming really good, removing Bopara and Owais Shah off consecutive deliveries, to add to a fine catch he took to get rid of Wright.

 

However, it was never really a challenge for even a half-pace England side, as Kevin Pietersen came in for some much-needed batting practice, and polished off an unbeaten half-century, with Eoin Morgan for company, after they had lost Paul Collingwood cheaply.

 

That was enough, but England will surely have to address several issues before the serious business begins.