Australia v Scotland: All you need to know

Match Facts

Who: Australia v Scotland

When: Sunday June 16. Coin toss at 10am AEST, first ball at 10.30am AEST (Saturday June 15, 8.30pm local time)

Where: Daren Sammy Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia

How to watch: Prime Video

Officials: Michael Gough and Asif Yaqoob (standing), Alex Wharf (third), Allahuddien Palekar (fourth)

Live scores: Australia v Scotland match centre

The squads

Australia: Mitch Marsh (c), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa. Reserves: Jake Fraser-McGurk, Matt Short

Australia's squad is fighting fit and with Mitch Starc on the verge of returning from a "minor calf niggle" they should have the full quota to select from. It's been a scintillating start to the tournament for openers David Warner and Travis Head who are playing with complete freedom against the new ball.

Scotland: Richie Berrington (c), Matthew Cross, Bradley Currie, Chris Greaves, Oli Hairs, Jack Jarvis, Michael Jones, Michael Leask, Brandon McMullen, George Munsey, Safyaan Sharif, Chris Sole, Charlie Tear, Mark Watt, Brad Wheal

For Scotland, they are beginning to see the results of keeping their core group together over multiple big tournaments. "The bulk of the squad have been together for a while now and did a fantastic job last year at both the 50-over and T20 qualifiers last summer," head coach Doug Watson said. "It's nice to have a bit of continuity … hopefully we can see the same level from these players, if not higher, when we get to the Caribbean."

World Cup standings

After England's huge win over Oman, it's no longer down to the net run rate from Scotland's point of view. They now need England to fall over against Namibia, which would render the Australia-Scotland match irrelevant, or they can take matters into their own hands and defeat Australia. For the Aussies, who are already qualified for the Super Eight stage, they will be keen to continue their momentum with a fourth-straight win to start the World Cup. 

How to watch

It's a new era for watching World Cup cricket in Australia.

All 55 matches of the tournament will be shown live on Amazon's Prime Video online subscription streaming service after the internet giant recently acquired the Aussie broadcast rights for all ICC events for the next four years. There is no free-to-air Australian broadcast of this World Cup as a result.

You can sign up to Prime Video by clicking here.

How to recap

Everything you could need will be right here on cricket.com.au. 

We'll have a live blog in play during the match, so even if you miss some live play you can catch up on the big moments as they happened. 

Interviews, highlights and the Unplayable Podcast will all review what took place and keep you informed on the key takeaways. 

Local knowledge

Daren Sammy Stadium in Gros Islet in the north of St Lucia is traditionally one of the more batter-friendly venues in the Caribbean for T20s.

The stats offer no discernible advantage for the quicks or the spinners, however the most recent T20I here was in 2021.

The Australians have played nine T20Is at the ground, stretching back to the 2010 World Cup. But it hasn't necessarily been a happy experience for Australia, with five of those matches coming during the Covid-bubble tour of 2021 where they lost the series 4-1.

T20 skipper Mitch Marsh led the charge for Australia during that series, which was played exclusively at the stadium, finishing with the most runs, wickets and best economy rate for the visitors.

Scotland have never played here.

Possible starting XIs

Australia: David Warner, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh (c), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Matthew Wade (wk), Pat Cummins, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood

With Australia already guaranteed of making the next stage, there is little reason to rush Mitch Starc back into the XI, who missed the win over Namibia with a left calf complaint. He had a lengthy bowl off his full run at training on Thursday and could be saving himself for the next round. The Aussies could also use the match to give a couple of the other first-choice players a rest, given the hectic schedule that's coming up. Josh Hazlewood is the only fast bowler to play all three matches so far, but said on Tuesday night he's very "keen" to continue playing given he missed the IPL. Pat Cummins indicated that there would be no resting bowlers once they hit the Super Eight stage, saying "It’s (resting bowlers) a bit of a luxury now in this first section of the tournament. Once you get to the Super Eights I don't think there will be any rest."

Whether Australia decides to take the opportunity to get match practice in the members of their squad that haven't featured yet remains to be seen, but is a live option, with Cameron Green, Josh Inglis and Ashton Agar all in contention to play.

Scotland: George Munsey, Michael Jones, Brandon McMullen, Richie Berrington (c), Matthew Cross, Michael Leask, Chris Greaves, Mark Watt, Chris Sole, Brad Wheal, Brad Currie

Scotland won't want to change too much considering the hot form they find themselves in. They've had a generous six-day break since their last match too, so the players should be fresh and ready to go. Left-armer Brad Currie missed the Oman game with a niggle but if fit should return to the XI.

Players to watch

Travis Head makes batting so much fun to watch. Whether it's his first ball or 40th, you know he's going to swing hard. His scores this tournament read 12 (10), 34 (18) and 34 (17), suggesting that a large score might just be around the corner. Head hits a boundary every 3.2 balls this tournament, the second best behind England's Jos Buttler (3.0).

Now at his third T20 World Cup, 27-year-old Brad Wheal is no stranger to a major tournament and he has made a strong showing so far with four wickets in his two innings to date. Wheal has made a name for himself as a reliable T20 bowler for Middlesex and London Spirit and compliments what is a really well-balanced bowling attack with the raw pace of Chris Sole and the guile of Mark Watt. His 16 wickets across the past three T20 World Cups (2021, 2022 and 2024) are the most by any Scot.

Recent form

Past 10 T20 matches, most recent first. W: win, L: loss, N: no result 

Australia: WWWWWLWWL

Australia are seriously humming now and their first 10 overs against Oman seems a long time ago. A comfortable win over the reigning champions England was impressive and their nine-wicket thumping of Namibia was nothing short of brutal. Strong showings from key batters and bowlers are a good sign for the rest of the tournament.

Scotland: WWNLWNLWWL

Scotland too have been flying, with two strong chases against Namibia and Oman, and a fast start against England (90 off 10 overs) before the rain set in in Barbados. If they manage to upset Australia, not only would it be an historic victory but it would knock neighbours England out of the tournament all together.

Last time they met

Australia have never met Scotland in a men's T20 international.

Head-to-head

n/a

Rapid stats

• Scotlandhave defeated one full member nation at each of the past two T20 World Cups; Bangladesh in 2021 and West Indies in 2022.
• George Munsey needs 29 runs to reach 2,000 in T20Is, which would make him the second Scottish man to achieve the feat behind his captain Richie Berrington (2,152)
• Australia's openers Travis Head andDavid Warner are ranked one and two in this tournament for runs inside the Powerplay, with 80 and 76 respectively. Scotland's Michael Jones is third with 69.

Where to next?

Australia, as the pre-determined second seed from Group B, already know that they're heading back to Antigua for their next match on June 21 (AEST), their first of the Super Eight. Scotland need to wait on other results to see if they're staying in St Lucia.

Australia's Group B fixtures

June 6: Beat Oman by 39 runs

June 9: Beat England by 36 runs

June 12: Beat Namibia by nine wickets

June 16: v Scotland, Daren Sammy Stadium, St Lucia, 10.30am AEST

Super Eight fixtures opponents to be confirmed

21 June: v D2, Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua, 10.30am AEST

23 June: v Afghanistan, Arnos Vale Ground, St Vincent, 10.30am AEST

25 June: v India, Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, St Lucia, 12.30am AEST

Semi-finals to follow if Australia qualify

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