Following their successful Cricket World Cup League 2 campaign in Oman, the focus for Scotland’s cricket team now shifts fully to their ICC Men’s T20 World Cup campaign, with the squad now in the UAE for a series of warm-up matches.
The team collected a valuable seven points from a possible eight in Oman, taking three impressive wins before seeing their final match against the hosts rained off. Shane Burger is expecting his squad to take that momentum into their T20 campaign, which begins with a warm up against Ireland on Tuesday morning before T20I’s against PNG and Namibia in the DafaNews T20 Summer Bash.
“Reflecting back on the series that has just gone, we’re obviously very happy with the results and the manner in which we’ve found ways to win matches, even when we’ve not played our best cricket at various times within those games,” said Burger. “I’m really happy with the way the team stood up and connected, especially the way they had a real togetherness throughout the whole trip in extreme and tough conditions.
“From a performance point of view, it’s pleasing to see various individuals at different stages throughout the competition putting their hands up and putting in match-winning performances. It’s great to see the depth within the squad and that we’re able to change the team around when required.
“The upcoming series will give us an opportunity to test out various combinations against different opposition. We know that Ireland, PNG, and Namibia will all bring different skills and challenges and we want to be really proactive in our thinking to make sure that we our best 15 available and getting game time before the tournament commences. It’s an exciting time as we shift back into T20 cricket and we’re in a good place.”
Josh Davey, Chris Greaves, Oli Hairs and Brad Wheal all join the squad, while Gavin Main leaves following the ODI campaign.
Scotland will play two further warm up matches against the Netherlands and Namibia next week, before their World Cup campaign officially begins against Bangladesh on October 17th.
