DUBAI: New Zealand will have to adapt to the daytime playing conditions when they face Scotland in Wednesday’s Super 12 match of the ICC T20 World Cup in Dubai, fast bowler Tim Southee has said.

New Zealand, who are third in Group II on two points, lost to Pakistan in the tournament opener but bounced back with a win against India last weekend, playing both matches at night.

The ‘Black Caps’ will play the rest of their group games against Scotland, Namibia and Afghanistan in the afternoon, and will qualify for the semi-finals if they win each of those matches.

“It’s not only an opposition, we don’t know too much about and don’t get to play that often, but it’s also a day game [after] the first two were night games,” Southee told reporters on Tuesday.

“There’s that to adapt to as well, but we’ve had our scouting meetings. Obviously, there’s no dew factor, which you seem to be faced within the night games here, at the moment.

“So it’s just about trying to adapt to the conditions and surface as quickly as possible that may react differently during the day.”

Scotland stormed through the group stages to reach the Super 12, but come into the match having suffered back-to-back defeats by Afghanistan and Namibia, leaving them bottom of Group II and prompting a bout of soul-searching within the team.

“There was obviously a fair amount of disappointment after the two performances that we’ve put in since making the Super 12s,” Scotland skipper Kyle Coetzer said.

“I’m a big believer of riding the wave and trying to use some of the emotions when you need to use them, but also you need to be okay with sitting back and taking a step back and just figuring out where you are, reassessing, and then moving forward again.”

Coetzer added that the Scots had taken some time out to play a round of golf to take their mind off their recent reverses.

“We look after each other as well, and we tried to have a bit of time together, and as I said, regroup,” he added.

“We’re back on to it now. The team vibe is very positive: Very, very positive. Look, we’re here in the Super 12s in a position that we all wanted to be.

“We know [New Zealand] are a fantastic side. We know that they’re going to come and try and push us as hard as they possibly can. “But pressure does some funny things sometimes, and we’ll be looking to assert ourselves on them as much as we possibly can and try and put them under some pressure.”

Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2021