T20 World Cup: Captain Kyle Coetzer backs Scotland to ‘make a scene’

Scotland head to the T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates and Oman with a squad “as powerful as we’ve ever had,” said captain Kyle Coetzer.

Scotland failed to qualify from the first round of the group stage of lower-ranked countries in India, but Coetzer tells BBC Scotland he thinks they are better prepared as a team – and him personally as captain – to make their mark this time around. to push.

Good form despite extreme conditions

Scotland is one of eight teams in two groups to participate in the first round, with the top two qualifying for the final Super 12.

Coetzer’s side kick off their campaign on Sunday and it couldn’t be much harder against a Bangladeshi side who were outside the top eight in the world when the draw took place in 2018 but are now in sixth place.

However, Scotland will be disappointed if they don’t at least take second place, having beaten the other two teams in the section – Papua New Guinea and co-host Oman – on more than one occasion in recent warm-up matches.

“The guys are in good shape,” said Coetzer. “Our results have been very good lately.”

‘I was not the captain I should have been’

Coetzer’s initial stint as captain ended in 2013, when South African-born Preston Mommsen took over for their T20 and 50-over World Cup campaigns.

“I’ll be honest, in my previous stint I certainly wasn’t the captain I should have been,” says the Aberdonian. “These are all things you have to go through to learn more about yourself and when I was asked to do it again I definitely had to think about it to make sure it was the right decision not just for me but for the team.”

Coetzer believes his role is to “give the boys the freedom to play and be the leaders they need to be on the pitch”.

“As far as I’m concerned, we have 11 leaders who are going out on the field and they all have to play their part,” he suggests.

Scotland comes ‘refreshing’ due to pandemic

Since the tournament was postponed and then moved out of India due to the worsening pandemic there, Coetzer and his side have had to wait longer than they thought for their World Cup chance, but he believes targeting the tournament has helped players cope. the health crisis.

“There were some tough times, but that played a big part in the motivation of the boys,” he says. “There has been a lot of water under the bridge in those few years and it seems like a long time since we were here last and we qualified and the fun and excitement that came from that.

“During that period there were a lot of questions about how much do you really want to keep working hard when things are really hard and in the end we had to do that on our own. There were some real challenges there and the guys handled themselves well and probably come out physically and mentally refreshed back in even better shape.”

‘We can make a bit of a scene’

Coetzer admits that, for his team, “it was a bit of a shock to the system how rough it is here at this time of year”, but he is confident they can withstand the extreme heat – and the pressure of being. in the spotlight of the world.

“We believe that in the coming weeks we have a real chance to not only do ourselves justice, but also to make a bit of a scene,” he said.

“I believe this squad is as powerful as anything we’ve ever had. We’ve covered pretty much every base in terms of skills. The players have the drive and willingness to just get the head down and get the job done – And we have the explosive power in our lineup if and when we need it.”

Coetzer won’t let his concentration wander to the prospect of facing England, Australia, Pakistan and holders of the West Indies for the first time in the final group stage.

“There is certainly a strong belief among the squad that this is a real possibility,” he added. “It’s been a long, old journey to get back here, but we’re here now and it’s time to do business.”