Published: Feb 04, 2015, 11:26 AM (IST)
Edited: Feb 04, 2015, 11:26 AM (IST)
Scotland have an extremely talented side filled with good all-rounders. They haven’t been exposed to a lot of international cricket though. They will get a chance to face the likes of Australia, England, New Zealand and Sri Lanka in their group and it is the lack of experience against quality that may worry Scotland. . Pramod Ananth takes a closer look at the Scottish side.
Recent form: Scotland come into the ICC World Cup 2015 at the back of a tri-series in United Arab Emirates (UAE) featuring Afghanistan and Ireland. They did not perform as well as they would have liked to as they didn’t really click well as a team. When their batsmen did well, the bowlers failed to deliver and when their bowlers performed well, their batsmen underperformed. They managed to win only one of the four matches, with the final game against Ireland abandoned due to rain. Although there were a few highlights which included a brilliant 96 by Hamish Gardiner in the opening game against Afghanistan and some amazing bowling from Josh Davey, with figures of six for 28 in the fourth One-Day International (ODI) against the same opposition. Scotland can hope of causing an upset only well the entire unit play together as a team, but lack of experience against some well established teams could get in their way and they might exit the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 without getting off the mark once again.
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Strenghts: Scotland go into the tournament as one of the minnows, so they don’t have anything to lose. It is only an opportunity to impress. The expectations from the team is low, considering the fact that they’ve been drafted in the same group as Australia, England, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Bangladesh. They will also face debutants Afghanistan, which will be their best opportunity to secure a win. Their strength lies in their bowling. The bowling pair of Davey and Rob Taylor, who are most likely to open the bowling for their team have the ability to contain the opposition and some sensible bowling from the other bowlers can certainly help their cause.
Weaknesses: Their batting has let them down time and again. There might be one sparkling innings from a player here and there, but collectively they’ve been poor. Another drawback is the lack of quality spinners. Majid Haq is the only regular spinner in the side, followed by part-timer Michael Leask. Although the tracks in Australia-New Zealand don’t offer much for spinners, yet they play a crucial role in order to get through the overs quickly or just to offer some change in pace. They are extremely dependent on their fast bowlers and medium-pacers to do the job for them.
No doubt Scotland have the potential to do well but whether they can do it at the biggest stage of them all, is to be seen.
Squad:
Preston Mommsen (c), Kyle Coetzer, Richie Berrington, Frederick Coleman, Matthew Cross, Josh Davey, Alasdair Evans, Hamish Gardiner, Majid Haq, Michael Leask, Matt Machan, Calum MacLeod, Safyaan Sharif, Robert Taylor, Iain Wardlaw.
(Pramod Ananth is a reporter at CricketCountry. He has represented Karnataka table tennis under-15, and is a hardcore supporter of Liverpool FC. His Twitter handle is @pramz)
