The preparation for the T20 World Cup begins to ramp up over the next week or so and it begins on Saturday when a tri-series begins over in Europe as the Netherlands take on Scotland in the first game of the competition.
While both of these teams will want to win and get off to a decent start in the tournament, they will be looking to finalise their combinations and come up with the best orders to take to the Caribbean with them at the end of the month.
Netherlands
As the home side I guess the onus will be on the Netherlands to perform well and look to win the matches as much as getting ready for the World Cup later in the year. After putting up such a positive showing in the 50 over World Cup at the end of last year, they will be hoping to showcase their talents in the shorter format on the global stage next month and the next week or so should be the perfect way to get themselves ready for that.
The problem that the Netherlands have at this time of year is their county players are not all made available so they have to do a little bit of mixing and matching both in this event and the World Cup. Generally we see the Netherlands putting up a decent showing with the ball, especially at this level, but they can be a little hit or miss with the bat. They will need to find some form with the bat if they are going to be any sort of force in the Caribbean.
Scotland
Scotland weren’t at the 50 over World Cup but they have made the last two T20 World Cup tournaments and have performed with decent credit in both of them. Having qualified for another go at the event they will head to the Caribbean looking to show that they have made progress. They are in one of the tougher groups when they get there so they are going to need to be at their best if they are going to extend their competition but they go there with hope.
Scotland are generally a well balanced side. There is a feeling that they lack a bit of fireworks at the top of their batting innings and I guess that is a fair comment but if they can lay a foundation and a platform to build on then there are a couple of batters down the order who can get the job done for them. If Scotland are going to be successful both in this tournament and that World Cup then their bowlers are going to need to carry plenty of the slack.
Special Offer
Open a new Sporting Index account and bet £10 on the series (min odds 1/2) to get £20 in free bets (2x£10 free bets) to use on any sports market! Click the image below to take advantage of this great offer! 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Responsibly.
Team News
The Netherlands are going to be without Colin Ackermann and Roelof van der Merwe who have been retained by their counties but at some point Bas de Leede will join up with the squad. Timm van der Gugten and Brandon Glover are injured.
Scotland have been boosted by the news that Michael Jones has been granted permission to leave Durham early and join up with the squad ahead of this tournament. They have been hit by the news that Somerset have retained the services of Josh Davey though.
Betting
Scotland generally have the better of the meetings between these two and I suspect one of the reasons for that is because the Netherlands are constantly having to chop and change their personnel due to county player availability. That is the case here as well and I wonder if that gives a slight edge to Scotland, who have so many more of their regular players available. In past meetings between the two Scotland lead 7-6 so this feels closer than the odds suggest.
I do think Scotland are overpriced here. In an ideal world they would have Josh Davey available but I still think they are worth backing here. If the Scots can get into this Dutch middle order early on then they could find that they get plenty of joy in this match. The Dutch are missing a couple of spinners in the middle overs which could be another deciding factor and with Scotland more settled they feel like a big price to get this opening match on the board in their favour.
Tips
Back Scotland to beat Netherlands for a 3/10 stake at 2.30 with William Hill
Back them here:
