England aim to end ‘European curse’ as they lock horns with Scotland in T20 WC

Bridgetown [Barbados], : As England prepares to start its ICC T20 World Cup title defence against Scotland in Barbados on Tuesday, the Three Lions will be aiming to overcome the ‘European curse’, having not won a match in the tournament against any European side.

In this T20 WC, England is a part of the Group B alongside arch-rivals Australia, Scotland, Namibia and Oman.

This will be England’s first match against Scotland in the T20 World Cup. In previous editions of the T20 World Cup, England has played two matches each against Ireland and Netherlands but failed to win any.

In the 2009 edition of the tournament at home, England could not defend their total of 163 runs against the Dutch side, as Tom de Grooth and Peter Borren made sure that Men in Orange pulled off an upset with four wickets left on the final ball.

Coming to the 2010 edition of the tournament in the West Indies, England played Ireland in the T20 WC. England had made 120/8 in their 20 overs after being put to bat first, with Eoin Morgan top-scoring. However, the match was interrupted by rain when Ireland was 14/1 in 3.3 overs.

England had a chance to get their revenge against the Dutch side during the 2014 edition of the competition in Bangladesh. England put Netherlands to bat first after electing to field first. Wesley Barresi and Stephan Myburgh took the Netherlands to a modest 133/5 in their 20 overs. Stuart Broad bowled a brilliant spell for England. However, Netherlands came back roaring while bowling, skittling out England for just 88 runs in 17.4 overs, with Ravi Bopara , Chris Jordan , and Alex Hales being the only ones to touch the double-digit mark.

Logan van Beek and Mudassar Bukhari were the top bowlers for the Netherlands.

In the 2022 edition of the tournament in Australia, England met Ireland at Melbourne. With the help of a half-century by skipper Andy Balbirnie , Ireland put up a fighting total of 157 in 19.2 overs. Liam Livingstone was the pick of the bowlers for England. When the rain interrupted the action at England being 105/5 in 14.3 overs, with Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone at the crease, the match was still 50-50. However, Ireland won by five runs via the DLS method.

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