England captain Heather Knight insisted her side are more than prepared to meet the challenge of neighbours Scotland in order to secure their place in the knockout stages of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup and has warned Scotland that her side are ready for their challenge.
With two wins from two, England sit third in Group B, while Scotland are already eliminated after defeats in all three of their matches so far but Knight is taking nothing for granted ahead of the sides’ meeting in Sharjah on Sunday.
And the England skipper revealed she is expecting Scotland to leave everything out on the pitch in their final match of the tournament.
“They’ve got nothing to lose,” she said. “They’re going to come out hard against us, they’re going to try and take us down and we’re totally prepared for that.
“We’ve had two gritty wins in difficult conditions, which has put us in a great position going into this game but we’re not underestimating Scotland.”
England’s bowling attack has served them well so far in the tournament, with Sophie Ecclestone leading a spin-heavy approach in their opening two victories against Bangladesh and South Africa.
It has meant seamer Lauren Bell has remained unused so far but Knight hinted that there may be changes to the attack for Sunday’s match as England look to use the full depth of options at their disposal.
She added: “I think what having a broad squad does give us the opportunity to chop and change based on matchups based on conditions and we feel like whoever we do bring in can do a really good job”
“We’ve seen seamers have a big impact in this tournament, especially in the middle overs, so we’re considering all options.
“I think you kind of get used to what is effective there as batters and bowlers what you need to do to have success.
“I think conditions are going to be different all the time we’ve got to be prepared for everything.
“Hopefully we can carry on the momentum we’ve got and go three from three.”
While England are looking to secure progression to the semi-finals, Scotland captain Abtaha Maqsood is excited by the opportunity to play against a local rivals England.
Despite their tough start to the competition, her side are determined to make the most of having the opportunity to face up against more established opposition on the biggest stages.
“Playing England is just an amazing occasion for all Scottish people, I’m sure everyone will be eating it up back home as well so yeah very excited,” she said.
“The nerves are definitely there for tomorrow but there’s so much more excitement the fact that we get to play England and get to play these players that we don’t usually play.”
Scotland came close to victory against Bangladesh before being more convincingly beaten by the West Indies and South Africa but Maqsood remains confident valuable lessons have been learnt.
“There’s been a lot of learnings to be honest,” she added. “I think one of the biggest ones is not to underestimate ourselves.
“I know it was always going to be difficult playing such good teams and they’ve obviously had a lot more experience than we have but we need to keep backing ourselves, we need to keep backing our abilities regardless of the names on the team sheet.”
Scotland return to Sharjah for the first time since their opener against Bangladesh, and Maqsood is looking forward to making full use of the conditions with her own spin bowling.
She said: “I’ve always kind of enjoyed bowling in the UAE in general, but in Sharjah in particular it is slower, lower, and definitely spinner friendly. I am excited to see how that plays tomorrow specifically for me.
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