Salt calls on England to play with ‘chests out’ in crunch T20 World Cup clash with Scotland

It turns out England’s self-confidence might be a bit more resolute than their batting. It will take more than a couple of teetering performances to set this team’s morale atremble. So despite being nervy against Nepal and wobbly against West Indies, England could hardly have been more cocksure on the eve of a crucial T20 World Cup group fixture against Scotland. As Phil Salt put it: “When we’re at our best nobody can live with us.”

England arrived in India having lost once in 11 Twenty20 games over the previous 12 months, and that run continues to be a source of belief. “It’s just about getting to that space more often than we have in the last two games,” Salt said. “We’re not talking about 10 [bad] games or 12 games, we’re talking about two games where it’s fair to say we haven’t been at our best. But the good news is the competition is in front of us and we’ve got these opportunities to come. And if we can be that authentic side of ourselves – chests out, taking the game on and being smart – there’s nothing to stop us.

“It’s about playing with personality going forwards. Being authentic to yourself and how you play the game. I think if we do that from one to 11 we’ll be in a great position. We had a really good lead-in to the tournament. We’ve played well as a unit for a good while, so it’s just about staying true to yourself as an individual and taking the game on as best you can, in smart ways.”

In 2023, after England fell 2-0 behind in the Ashes with three to play, Ben Stokes described the situation as “actually very exciting” and insisted “the way we play our cricket couldn’t be more perfect for the situation we find ourselves in”. Two and a half years later, on a different continent and in a different format, the message in adversity is strikingly similar.

“The exciting thing for everyone in our camp is that the opportunity is in front of us now, to prove that we can do it, to prove that when our backs are against the wall we can come out and we can play,” said Salt. “The opportunities are there to go out and play with some personality, express yourself. Because when we do that, sides can’t live with us. We know that much. It’s about bringing it to that night, and in that moment when you’ve got a decision to make taking the positive option with your chest out and put your stamp on the game. If we want to go deep into this World Cup, we’re going to have to do exactly that.”

Scotland have been in Kolkata since they arrived in the country and have the advantage of playing a third straight game at Eden Gardens, having lost to West Indies and beaten Italy. But Salt is no stranger to this ground either. He won the Indian Premier League with Kolkata Knight Riders in 2024 and has a superb record here: nine innings, five half-centuries, and an average of 50.75 at a strike rate of 182.06. (His career average in T20s is 28.12.)

“We’ve got a lot of guys through the dressing room who have played a lot of cricket here, but if guys want to talk to me about Eden Gardens I’ll happily do that,” he said. “We’ve a few guys on our coaching staff and a lot of our players have also had success here.”

In their infinite wisdom on the night before England play Scotland in what should become these historic sporting rivals’ first completed game of cricket since 2018 and only their fifth of all time, the two sides chose to give media duties to Salt (born in Wales, raised in Barbados) and Brad Wheal (born and raised in South Africa). Asked for his memories of meetings between the nations across the sporting sphere, Salt said: “You’ve asked the wrong person the question, it doesn’t mean loads to me.”

He was, however, convinced that it means something to some other people. “I know a few of their lads quite well and I know they savour it a little bit more, playing against England. There’s a little bit more on it for them than other games,” Salt said. “An opportunity to upset England is most Scotsmen’s dream.”

There are, however, exceptions. “I think we approach this game as we do any other game,” said Scotland’s Wheal. “Obviously we realise that it’s a very important game. We’ve just got to take this head-on and be really brave. We play cricket as we always do, and we’re going to be brave and fight the best we can. Obviously the opponents are who they are but we take each game exactly the same. Obviously we understand it’s a massive rivalry in all sports, but at the end of the day it’s a game of cricket and we’re going to go out there and give it everything we’ve got.”

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