Scotland openers George Munsey and Michael Jones gave England a fright in their T20 World Cup opener in Barbados on Tuesday before rain spared the defending champions a potentially tough chase.

Scotland, in their first T20 against their border rivals, were bidding to match their shock success when they last met England — a six-run one-day international win in Edinburgh back in 2018.

England, meanwhile, were desperate to improve on a woeful defence of their 50-over global title in India last year, where Jos Buttler’s men lost six of their nine matches.

But after Scotland captain Richie Berrington won the toss on Tuesday, they failed to create one clear and legitimate wicket-taking chance.

Munsey (41 not out off 31 balls) and Jones (45 not out off 30) batted superbly to take non-Test nation Scotland to 90-0 in a rain-interrupted innings of 10 overs at the Kensington Oval.

But a fresh downpour led the umpires to abandon the Group B match before England, on a ground where they won the 2010 T20 World Cup final, could begin their reply.

Both England and Scotland received a point each.

“We expected a tough challenge, there are no easy games, but we were confident coming into the game,” said England captain Buttler.

“It’s disappointment for everyone… We scrapped hard and we were confident of chasing that score down.”

“Hopefully we get a dry day and we can get into the tournament.”

In the Group D clash on Tuesday, Max O’Dowd’s unbeaten half-century steered the Netherlands to a six-wicket victory over Nepal in their T20 World Cup clash.

Set a target of 107 to win, O’Dowd anchored the Netherlands’ run chase with 54 off 48 balls to see the Dutch over the line at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas.

The Netherlands finished on 109-4 off 18.4 overs, with Bas de Leede hitting the winning runs with a boundary to seal victory.

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