New Delhi: Following Scotland’s 3-0 T20I series defeat to Australia at Edinburgh, head coach Doug Watson said his team has learnt a lot of things about playing against a top international side.
“The 3-0 defeat is frustrating and the guys will be disappointed because they are proud, but there have been a lot of things we can learn from. We know that playing against world class opposition, your margins are so small. From a batting perspective, it was about partnerships.”
“In all three games, we didn’t get a 40-run partnership; it was something they did well. We chopped and changed quite a bit, which we don’t normally do. We gave people different opportunities so they can be exposed to this level.”
“We want to play more top class teams. We can also prepare better for games like this so we hit the ground better. Be creative in our thinking so we’re more ready,” Watson was quoted as saying by BBC Sport.
A big bright spot for Scotland was opener Brandon McMullen, who struck two half-centuries in the series. “He works hard on his game, he is very reflective, he is very calm and he wants to be brilliant. He played some outstanding shots and he showed his class again,” added Watson.
Left-arm spinner Mark Watt hopes that following Australia coming to play in Scotland, other top nations will follow suit to play in the country and inspire next generation of cricketers for the country. “It was a great opportunity to see some of our younger guys at this level. We’ve progressed and learned from every game. It is a 3-0 loss, but a lot to learn from it.”
“A lot of the boys are going to learn massively from this. We’re delighted the Aussies made the effort to come here and hopefully we can get more and more bigger nations to come. It shows the level we need to get to.”
“We always say as a team what we want to do is inspire a nation and the more days like this with 3,000-4,000 people at the Grange, you’re going to inspire a lot more kids. That’s what we want to do and having chances against Australia is going to provide a lot of belief for younger people watching us.”
–IANS