BRAD WHEAL HOPING TO KICK-OFF BIG DAY OF SCOTTISH SPORT IN STYLE

Scotland begin a big day of Scottish sport on Saturday morning as they face England in a crunch ICC Men's T20 World Cup clash in Kolkata - before Scotland also face England in Rugby Union's Six Nations, competing for the Calcutta Cup.

 

It's not just the opportunity to take down the 'Auld Enemy' on the line on Valentine's Day - as victory would be a huge step in progressing to the next stage of the competition.

 

After defeating Italy on Monday, the Scots have one win and loss from their two games so far - as do England - and Brad Wheal is hoping his side can get the weekend off to the perfect start for everyone in Scotland.

 

Wheal said: "It's obviously a pretty cool day for everyone, England playing Scotland in cricket and in the Six Nations in the Calcutta Cup - and we're playing in Kolkata so that's quite a coincidence!

 

"But it's awesome, obviously for everyone we just want to go out there and do our country proud. It's a big day for Scottish sport and a massive opportunity for both teams to get a big win, so hopefully we can do the job tomorrow.

 

"We had a good result against them, I think it was 2018, but that's a long time ago. We can take some confidence out of that, but it's a completely new team from both sides. We understand it's a massive rivalry in all sports, but we just see it as an amazing opportunity to really go out there and just show everyone what we can do as a team."

 

 

For Associate Members like Scotland, World Cups provide a rare opportunity to test themselves against the best sides in the world, and so far in India and Sri Lanka, some of the big names have suffered scares - including England in their opening fixture against Nepal.

 

Wheal continued: "I think skill levels across the board are getting better and better. I think at the end of the day it just comes down to opportunity. You've got guys who are playing a lot more cricket around the world and getting the experience that they need, so that gap is definitely closing.

 

"You're seeing, obviously, Nepal had a great game against England, they nearly got across the line. Zim(babwe) won today against Australia. Those are - I wouldn't call them upsets anymore, but they're games that we should expect at World Cups.

 

"That's the beauty of having this amount of teams at the World Cup, is that these teams that don't always get these opportunities to play against the so-called bigger nations now have the chance to really show the world what they can do and we see that as an opportunity.

 

"I don't think it changes much in terms of how we approach these games, but it's definitely in the back of a few guys' minds that these opportunities don't come around every day for a team like us.

 

"We obviously prep as best we can and do what we can in the space of time that we've had, 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."

 

Scotland face England on Saturday 14 February in Kolkata from 0930 GMT - and you can follow all the action on Sky Sports Main Event and BBC Test Match Special.