Vusumuzi Dube
Brandon Moyo
TWO teams who were not favourites at the start of the 2023 Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifiers, now have the chance of changing a narrative and booking their place in this year’s World Cup.
Scotland and Netherlands face off today in a match that could see either one of them book their tickets to India in October for the global showpiece. Whoever wins the encounter between the two nations will progress to India.
The equation is simple. Win and book your ticket to India. As things stand, Scotland stands a better chance as they are sitting in second place with six points while Netherlands has four, hence making it an important clash at Queens Sports Club today.
Both nations stand a chance of flying the Associate World’s flag high when they defy the odds and make it when no one gave them a chance from the start of the tournament.
Scotland have found themselves within touching distance of India after eliminating tournament hosts Zimbabwe on Tuesday in a clash which they won by 31 runs. A win for Scotland will see them move to an unassailable eight points on the standings and claiming the last remaining spot after Sri Lanka snatched the first one.
For the Netherlands, their hopes of qualification relies on winning by a huge margin so that they can better Scotland’s net run rate. If Netherlands wins, net run rate will come into play as both teams will now be on six points.
The match promises to be an epic encounter between two teams who are looking at writing their names in cricket history by defying the odds. The match starts at 9am and tickets are available at the gates. – @brandon_malvin
Bongani Ndlovu