Blain prepared for battle

John Blain will not be taking a defeatist attitude into the game

John Blain insists he is ready for a psychological battle with Pakistan’s big-hitting batsman as Scotland brace themselves for their ICC World Twenty20 opener.

The 28-year-old paceman, who chose cricket above football after a short spell on Falkirk’s books, knows the Pakistan side will not hold back in Wednesday's clash.

But Blain is plotting to stop them having it their own way at the Kingsmead stadium in Durban by anticipating their every move.

“You’ve got to try to out-think the batsman. It’s a nice challenge,” Blain said.

“It’s about perseverance. You’ve got to try to persevere and maintain your focus. It’s the same for the batsman, watching the ball very closely.

“In Twenty20 the key is to pick your shot or decide on your delivery and go through with it.

“It’s all about positive thinking. You’ve got to be committed.”

Scotland have lost warm-up matches to Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, which suggests they will struggle in the tournament.

Scotland lost both their warm up matches in their new strip this week © Getty Images

But Blain and Scotland will not take a defeatist attitude into the match.

Ireland beat Pakistan at the ICC World Cup in March, and if Scotland cannot manage that on Wednesday it will not be for a lack of effort.

Blain said: “We’ve probably got to get a lot of runs on the board and then do our best with the ball. The key will be getting early wickets, which in Twenty20 is the way to contain people.

“If we can try to take a couple of early Pakistan wickets then who knows what will happen.

“I think they’ll have their guard up and won’t want to lose again to an associate nation.

“We’re looking forward to it. We’re optimistic, we know our strength and weaknesses. We’ve got some good stroke players.”

Blain represented Scotland at the 1999 and 2007 World Cups but, like most of his team-mates, is new to the shortest form of the game.

“In the initial warm-up game against Bangladesh we didn’t cover ourselves in glory with the bat,” Blain admitted.

“We were probably 50 runs short of what we wanted and it was the same scenario against Zimbabwe, 20 runs too short. We’re still quite young at this.”

Scotland are in Group D, with India their other rivals.

The Scots will have little time after Wednesday's match to reflect on the outcome, as their game against India follows on Thursday.