Salt calls on England to play with their chests out in the crucial T20 World Cup match against Scotland

It turns out that England’s confidence is perhaps a little more determined than their batting. It’s going to take more than a few shaky performances to rock this team’s morale. Despite being nervous against Nepal and shaky against the West Indies, England could hardly have been more confident on the eve of a crucial T20 World Cup group match against Scotland. As Phil Salt put it, “When we are at our best, no one can live with us.”

England arrived in India having lost once in 11 T20 matches in the last 12 months, and that run remains a source of confidence. “It’s about us getting into that space more often than we have in the last two games,” Salt said. “We’re not talking about ten [bad] games or twelve games, we’re talking about two games where we can honestly say we haven’t been at our best. But the good news is that the competition is ahead of us and these opportunities are still to come. And if we can be that authentic side of ourselves – kicking ass, getting into the game and being smart – there’s nothing holding us back.

“It’s about playing with personality going forward. Being authentic to yourself and how you play the game. I think if we do that from one to eleven we’ll be in a great position. We had a really good run-in to the tournament. We’ve played well as a unit for a long time, so it’s about staying true to yourself as an individual and tackling the game as best you can, in a smart way.”

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 that “the way we play cricket couldn’t be more perfect for the situation we’re 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 now in front of us, to prove that we can do it, to prove that when our backs are against the wall, we can come out and play,” Salt said.

“The opportunities are there to go out and play with a personality, to express yourself. Because if we do that, the sides can’t live with us. That much we know. It’s about bringing it to that night, and that moment when you have made a decision to take the positive option with your chest out and leave your mark on the game. If we want to go deep into this World Cup, we will have to do exactly that.”

Scotland have been in Kolkata since arriving in the country and have the advantage of playing a third straight match at Eden Gardens after losing to the West Indies and beating Italy. But Salt is also no stranger to this field. He won the IPL with Kolkata Knight Riders in 2024 and has an excellent 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 have a lot of guys in the dressing room who have played a lot of cricket here, but if guys want to talk to me about Eden Gardens I will be happy to do so,” he said. “We have a few guys on our coaching staff and a lot of our players have had success here as well.”

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

However, he was convinced that it meant something to other people. “I know a few of their lads quite well and I know they enjoy playing against England a bit more. There’s a bit more to it than other games,” Salt said. “A chance to upset England is the dream of most Scots.”

However, there are exceptions. “I think we approach this game like we approach any other game,” Scotland’s Wheal said. “Obviously we realize it’s a very important game. We just have to tackle it and be very brave. We’ll play cricket like we always do, and we’ll be brave and fight as best we can. The opponents are obviously who they are, but we’ll take every match exactly the same. We obviously understand it’s a huge 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 everything we’ve been given.”