T20 World Cup: Looking to get into Super Eight, regardless of other teams in group, says Wheal

Bridgetown: Scotland fast-bowler Brad Wheal insists his side are looking to qualify for the Super Eight stage of the Men’s T20 World Cup as one of the top teams from Group B.

Scotland had their match against defending champions England abandoned due to rain at the Kensington Oval and wins over Namibia and Oman along with not losing to Australia by a big margin will give them a good chance of qualifying for the Super Eight stage.

“We’re coming into this tournament looking to get into that Super 8, regardless of the rest of the teams in our group. Obviously, it’s something that guys look towards, but we’re just taking it one game at a time.”

“I know it’s cliche, but realistically our best chance of getting into that Super 8 stage and competing and turning some big teams over is looking at tomorrow’s game and then the Oman game after that. So just one game at a time, we’ll take the belief in what we’ve done yesterday into those games,” said Wheal to reporters.

Namibia won their T20 World Cup opening game against Oman after a thrilling Super Over and have a 3-0 record over Scotland in T20Is since 2019, which makes them a stern opposition for the Richie Berrington-led side on Thursday clash. “At the end of the day every game at a World Cup is a big game regardless of who the opposition is, so nothing changes in terms of process and preparation.”

“Guys are still going to turn up to training and do what we do as if we’re playing England or India or whoever it may be tomorrow so I don’t think that changes anything. Obviously, the mindset might be slightly different but you might turn up and yes, we might not have as big a crowd watching us but we still know it’s just as big a game and we need to win to really compete here,” added Wheal.

Scotland cleared their intentions of dominating games when openers Michael Jones and George Munsey shared an unbeaten stand of 90 in 10 overs against England. Rain meant the target for England was revised to 109 via DLS, but Scotland never got the crack to have a ball due to abandonment.

“A bit of a frustrating result in the end for us (against England). The boys went into that game with a lot of confidence. We’ve had a pretty decent run up over the last couple weeks and we feel like we’re in a good position to win some games out here. We showed a small glimpse of what we could have done yesterday against the current world champions.”

“But it was definitely something that our bowling lineup could have defended and we’re pretty confident going into that. That was definitely something we could do and achieve. So, a frustrating one, but unfortunately, as is the way with the weather here at the moment. But in all, we’re happy to come out here and play our cricket and do what we do.”

“So, all good, as Munsey and Jonesy, going out there and just sort of putting the right foot forward has just given the rest of the squad some good confidence to go on through the rest of this tournament.”

“It’s also given us sort of belief that we’re good enough to be here and we’re good enough to compete and beat the best teams in the world. So, definitely a good starting point and hopefully we can build off that and get the ball rolling for the rest of the tournament,” concluded Wheal.

–IANS