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4 min readUpdated: Feb 13, 2026 10:04 PM IST
England practice seassion at Eden Gardens Kolkata the day before match against Scotland in the T20 World Cup match .Express photo by Partha Paul.
Surely there’s a generous sprinkling of hope and bravado to it. But with the Calcutta Cup in the air, you can’t keep the Scots down. Ahead of their V-day cricket fixture against Auld Enemy England at Eden Gardens, Scotland said they wanted to keep their end of the bargain – thump England, even as rugby’s Six Nations fixture took place at Murrayfield.
The actual, real cricket rivalry of interest on the day is between South Africa and New Zealand at Ahmedabad, scene of the double Supre Overs. But England and Scitland have their own thing going with both Calcutta Cups to be held on same day across two sports.
“Yeah, there’s definitely a few rugby boys in the squad,” wicket keeper-batsman Matthew Cross told Edinburgh News. “So I know they’ll definitely be glued to the screen when the time’s right. I’ll be honest, I’ve no idea what the time difference is and when it’s on but if we’ve got an opportunity to watch it, I think we’ll be watching that as well,” he said, before adding, “Hopefully after we’ve done our bit. And then it’s over to the rugby lads to get it done as well.” Gregor Townsend’s ruggers smarting from a loss to Italy at rugby, will want to raise levels against England. In Kolkata, the Scots are merely happy to play at the iconic venue.
“It’s been a bit chaotic but at the same time really good and, you know, playing in some stadiums like Eden Gardens in Mumbai, it’s incredible. Things that, you know, you wouldn’t have thought you might be doing a few years ago,” Cross said to Edinburgh News.
England have notoriously never beaten an European side at the T20 World Cup, logging losses against Scotland, Ireland and the Netherlands across eight editions.
“We’re pretty excited to be honest. I think it’s kind of what we play the game for, these opportunities to take on teams like England and beat them,” Cross added.
“Obviously the last time we managed to complete a game against England we won (back in 2018). And we got ourselves into a position in the West Indies game to have a crack at it but we obviously fell short.
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“So I think it seems to be one of these games where the guys tend to step up and we seem to perform better. Hopefully that’s the case again and we get to complete the game this time.”
But Scotland are not stuck in the past.
“I think it’s just there in the background. It’s something to say that we’ve done this before so we can do it again. But that’s a long time ago now. So it’d be nice to be talking about a win in 2026 against England for a few years.”
Cross added that the last minute callup to replace Bangladeshhas kept tgem fresh: “I think there’s a bit of a freshness about the group that sometimes you don’t always get if you have a big build-up. So I think guys are more raring to go.
“Bar a few overs going wrong against the West Indies, we could have won that one as well. So I think all things considered it’s going pretty well.
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“I think just drawing on a lot of experience, you know? This is quite an experienced squad and we’ve got guys who’ve done it in multiple different scenarios.
“We also have that confidence of having beaten every team we play in this group at different stages in different formats. So I think it’s just drawing on that experience and understanding what it takes for us to win these kind of games.
“And it’s been amazing. Obviously, it’s a bit different to back home in terms of everyone knows who you are straight away and really wants to get around you and take photos and things like that,” he said.
Not many will go unrecognized if they actually tame the Auld Enemy and kick off nicely for the Calcutta double Cup.
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