Imagining a combined England-Scotland playing 11 for LA 2028 Olympics ft. Ben Stokes, Mark Watt
England and Scotland will reportedly send one team named Great Britain to participate in the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics cricket tournament. Cricket is all set to return at the grandest sports competition in the USA in 2028.
It should not be a surprise if all the Test-playing nations receive a direct entry into the T20I format tournament planned to happen in 2028. While England and Scotland play international cricket as different teams regularly, athletes of both nations play for Great Britain at the Olympics.
Thus, in 2028, the Great Britain playing XI may comprise players from both England and Scotland in T20I cricket. Here's a probable XI for the same.
Openers for Great Britain at LA 2028 Olympics - Phil Salt and Jos Buttler (c and wk)
The opening pair of this team could be an all-English one. The destructive duo of Phil Salt and Jos Buttler should open the batting for this team. Buttler, who led England to the T20 World Cup trophy in 2022, should lead this team.
Both Salt and Buttler can keep the wickets, but the latter should take the gloveman's duties because he will also lead the team. Salt and Buttler will have the onus of providing explosive starts to this team. For the record, Salt has 885 runs in 29 T20I innings at a strike rate of 165.11, while Buttler has aggregated 3,264 runs in 114 innings.
Middle Order for Great Britain at LA 2028 Olympics - Harry Brook, Luc Benkenstein, Brandon McMullen, Ben Stokes and Sam Curran
The young duo of Harry Brook and Luc Benkenstein should form the core of this batting lineup. Brook has done a phenomenal job for England in Tests. He has shown glimpses of achieving greatness in T20Is as well, and by 2028, he should be an established match-winner in this format.
Luc Benkenstein is the U-19 captain of England right now. He recently scored a match-winning 102 in a youth ODI game against Sri Lanka U-19s. The future seems bright for the England U-19 skipper.
Scotland's Brandon McMullen is only 25 years old, but he already has four T20I half-centuries to his name at a strike rate of more than 150. He will be one of the few Scottish players in the squad.
All-rounders Ben Stokes and Sam Curran will provide the balance to this lineup. Stokes is a big-match player, who has 585 runs and 26 wickets to his name in 43 T20Is, while Curran was the Man of the Tournament in the T20 World Cup 2022.
Bowlers for Great Britain at LA 2028 Olympics - Mark Watt, Tazeem Chaudry Ali, Chris Sole and Jofra Archer
Scottish left-arm spinner Mark Watt should form the spin attack of this Great Britain team for the LA 2028 Olympics along with Tazeem Chaudhry Ali. Watt has bagged 11 wickets in eight T20Is this year. Meanwhile, Tazeem is a leg-spinner playing at the U-19 level for England. He has eight wickets in seven List-A matches so far.
Mark Wood will be 38 by the time the LA 2028 Olympics start, whereas Chris Jordan will be 39. Hence, the duo of Chris Sole and Jofra Archer may share the new ball for Great Britain.
Sole is one of the few Scottish pacers who can clock 150kmph on the speedometer. He has 20 wickets in 21 T20s thus far. On the other side, Archer needs no introduction. He is one of the best pace-bowling all-rounders in T20 cricket, having won the IPL MVP award in the 2020 season.