Wednesday 30 / October / 2024
North Sound, Antigua: Mark Watt, the Scotland finger-spinner, loves to do his homework before every game. On the eve of his team’s Group B clash against Oman in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, Antigua, Watt emphasised the significance of Sunday’s match as a "massive game" for them.
With both Scotland and Oman full of ambition and boasting talented players, Sunday’s clash could be a cracking contest between two sides. Heading into the match with three points already secured, a victory would significantly bolster their chances of progressing to the next round, especially with a daunting encounter against Australia looming. Watt is, however, not looking ahead further than Oman’s game, whom he termed as a “dangerous side”.
“We have played them on quite a few occasions in both ODI and T20 formats and we are aware of their team’s strengths and weaknesses. We would go into the match in the same way we played against England and Namibia,” he said at the pre-match press conference.
Watt denied that Scotland had an upper had given the head-to head stats are in their favour.
Scotland and Oman have faced off four times in T20Is, including once at a T20 World Cup, in 2021. Scotland have won all four games chasing.
“Stats don’t mean much as every game is a new game and in T20 format, all it takes is one good over to change the course of the match,” said the 27-year-old slow left-arm spinner. Watt admitted that his team would possibly have the benefit of knowing the ground conditions better than the rivals as bulk of players had the experience of playing last year’s Cool and Smooth T20 in Antigua. The one-day team had also held a camp in Antigua last year and Watt said: “There are players who know the conditions here better as they have played here, At the nets too, we had valuable inputs of the conditions from local net bowlers whom a few of our players knew. We will take that and hope to exploit the local conditions better tomorrow.”
The spinner said “wind conditions” will be big consideration in the game and added “there was no weight of expectations” after the five-wicket win against Namibia and a strong showing in the rain-affected game against England that ended in a no-result.
On the good showing of Associate nations in the ongoing tournament where USA upset Pakistan and Canada got the better of Ireland, Watt said: “I don’t see them anymore as upset wins. Associate nations showing proves that they could compete against the Test-playing nations. We are all trying to improve and make an impact.”
