Scotland put aside 2018 heartbreak, fully focused on campaign

SCOTLAND’s Matthew Cross says his side has put behind their 2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifiers heartbreak and are fully focused on qualifying for the global showpiece this time around.

Scotland will open their 2023 World Cup Qualification campaign against Ireland at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo this morning.

In 2018, Scotland missed out on World Cup qualification after narrowly losing to the West Indies in a rain affected match.
The Saltires appeared well-placed to upset the two-time winners of the competition and qualify for the following year’s tournament in England.

However, bad weather intervened and sent them packing with a five-run defeat using the DLS method. After bowling the Windies out for just 198 runs, Scotland were 125 for five in pursuit before heavy rain forced the game to be called off with the Scots still five runs shy of the par score.

The result saw West Indies qualify for the final of the World Cup qualifiers and with it the tournament proper, while Scotland missed out having suffered their second successive defeat of the Super Six stage.

Asked about the feeling of that near miss five years ago, Cross said: “It shows the level we can play at and that we are as good as all the teams here. In the last five years, we have beaten some of the teams here.

“Ultimately, it’s about stepping up and doing the job. So, there is no animosity with what happened five years ago. We are really in a good space and looking to show up and qualify for the World Cup.”

In today’s match between Scotland and Ireland, the two nations rivalry goes back decades, but the team’s most recent ODI meeting came five years ago in Harare in the Super Six stage of the 2018 World Cup Qualifier, a thrilling encounter which Ireland won by 25 runs.

“There is always extra fuel when it’s Scotland against Ireland. It’s actually one of my favourite games and hopefully, it will be a good start to the tournament for us,” said Cross.

“We played here five years ago and we have a sense of how the conditions are. We’re gonna try and score more runs. The conditions seem fair. There is something for everybody. It’s going to come down to performances from the boys,” he added.

While this will be Scotland’s first game, Ireland goes into this one at the back of a shock five-wicket defeat to Oman.
Cross, however, feels this will count for nothing this morning.

“To be honest I don’t think anything is going to change for us. We have four other big games in front of us,” said Cross.
After Ireland, the Scots will UAE on Friday, June 23.

The Scots then take on Oman on Sunday, June 25, and conclude their Group B campaign on Tuesday, June 27 in a crunch meeting with Sri Lanka.

The top three teams in each group are progressing to the Super Six stage. Those teams will each play three Super Six matches against the sides they did not meet in the initial group stage.

All points won in the group stage will be carried over t the Super Six, apart from those gained against the bottom two in each group. The tournament finalists will both progress to the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023.
-@innocentskizoe