Scotland are set to face England in the opening game of the Gold Coast 2018 Basketball competition on 5 April in Townsville. Following confirmation last month that Team Scotland will be participating in Men’s Basketball, the match schedule was announced today (29 August) revealing the first game clash with the Auld Enemy.

The eight competing nations have been split into two pools of four which will compete against each other during the preliminary rounds to be held in Townsville and Cairns between 5-10 April.

Placed in Pool B, Scotland will follow their opening game with England, playing Cameroon on 7 April and will conclude their pool matches against India on 8 April. All three games will take place in Townsville.

After the Pool stage, the top two teams from Pool A will proceed to the semi-finals, whilst the bottom two teams from Pool A will play the top two teams from Pool B in the qualifying finals which, for the men’s competition, will be held in Cairns. The remaining two Pool B teams are eliminated.

The winner of the qualifying final will then advance to the semi-final and medal matches on the Gold Coast from 13-15 April 2018.

Reacting to the match schedule newly appointed Men’s National Team Head Coach, Tony Garbelotto, said: “The schedule for the Commonwealth Games was going to be tough regardless, but I am happy with the outcome. Without fully knowing the makeup of teams that each nation will send, we know that we still have a great chance to advance to the knockout stages. Playing England first is an exciting prospect for us as a team and indeed for the whole nation who we know will be right behind us.”

Gold Coast will be only the second time Basketball has been included in the Games programme with the sport making its debut at Melbourne in 2006 where Scotland finished sixth.

Individual player selection will be made early in 2018 to ensure player form and fitness.