 "CWC Qualifier 2023, Scotland Cricket")
Cricket World Cup Qualifier is the biggest event for Associate members of the International Cricket Council (ICC). In this edition of the event, there are six Associates and four permanent members of the ICC fighting to occupy the top two spots in the 10-team tournament. It is because the top two move straightaway to the 2023 ODI World Cup, to be hosted later this year in India.
The 10 teams have been divided into two groups of five each and from each group, top three teams go through to super six. Sri Lanka are favourites from this group. Ireland also make a case for themselves with Scotland not playing with their best team possible. The remaining two teams in the group are Oman and UAE.
Here’s how Scotland, UAE and Iman shape up to challenge Ireland and Sri Lanka
Scotland: Missing key players, Scots rely on young talent
The Scots marched into the Cricket World Cup Qualifier on the virtue of winning 24 games out of the 36 in the ICC League Two. If ICC would have continued with the Super League, Scotland would have been promoted to the league of the big teams and would have got the much-desired 24 matches against permanent members.
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Since moving to the Super League doesn’t seem possible, the men from northern parts of Great Britain can now try and finish in the top two of the CWC Qualifier and get a shot at playing at least nine games against the top 10 teams in the world.
The Scots are missing key players, most of all their two leading run scorers in League Two, Kyle Coetzer and Calum McLeod who decided to hang their boots after the T20 World Cup last year.
Fast bowlers Josh Davey and Brad Wheal, alongside opening batter Michale Jones have chosen to represent their county teams instead of playing the qualifier. As a result, the Scots have not had the best preparation coming here. They even lost both their warm-up matches against West Indies and Zimbabwe very badly.
Scotland Squad for Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2023
Richie Berrington (c), Matthew Cross, Alasdair Evans, Chris Greaves, Jack Jarvis, Michael Leask, Tom Mackintosh, Chris McBride, Brandon McMullen, George Munsey, Adrian Neill, Safyaan Sharif, Chris Sole, Hamza Tahir, Mark Watt
Scotland best playing 11
George Munsey, Matthew Cross, Chris McBride, Richie Berrington (c), Brandon McMullen, Michael Leask, Chris Greaves, Jack Jarvis, Safyaan Sharif, Alasdair Evans, Hamza Tahir
Scotland Cricket World Cup Qualifiers Schedule
Scotland vs Ireland, June 21, 2023- Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo
Scotland vs UAE, June 23, 2023- Bulawayo Athletic Club, Bulawayo
Scotland vs Oman, June 25, 2023- Bulawayo Athletic Club, Bulawayo
Scotland vs Sri Lanka, June 27, 2023- Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo
UAE: Not consistent in League TWO, the Emiratis finally get in the groove
In the qualifying league for the CW Qualifier, UAE played the ICC League Two from 2019 to 223. In that league, the Emirates were not consistent and lost 18 out of the 36 games to finish sixth, ahead of PNG and just below the USA.
To snake it to the CWC Qualifier, they needed to play the Qualifier playoffs and Namibia. They were not the favourites to make it through with hosts Namibia being the first in the pecking order followed by USA and Canada. However, gaining confidence from the ILT20 League held in their nation. They won four out of their five games, winning key battles against Namibia, Canada and PNG even after being in tricky situations. The only game they lost was against the USA.
In the ACC Premiership after that, they reached the final beating Oman, Hong Kong and Singapore on the way. However, they lost to Nepal in the final and as a result missed out on getting into the Asia Cup, scheduled for later this year.
The UAE won in the warm-up of the Qualifier against Nepal and did not look very bad against West Indies either. They have young exciting players like Vriitya Aravind, Ali Naseer and Ayan Khan in the mix who can very well cause an upset or two against more fancied teams like Scotland, Ireland and even Sri Lanka.
UAE Squad for Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2023
Mohammad Waseem (c), Ethan D'Souza, Ali Naseer, Vriitya Aravind, Rameez Shahzad, Jawadullah, Asif Khan, Rohan Mustafa, Aayan Khan, Junaid Siddique, Zahoor Khan, Sanchit Sharma, Aryansh Sharma, Karthik Meiyappan, Basil Hameed
UAE best playing 11
Mohammad Waseem, Ali Naseer, Rohan Mustafa, Vriitya Aravind, Rameez Shahzad, Basil Hameed, Aayan Khan, Junaid Siddique, Zahoor Khan, Karthik Meiyappan, Jawadullah
UAE Cricket World Cup Qualifiers Schedule
UAE vs Sri Lanka, June 19, 2023- Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo
UAE vs Oman, June 21, 2023- Bulawayo Athletic Club, Bulawayo
UAE vs Scotland, June 23, 2023- Bulawayo Athletic Club, Bulawayo
UAE vs Ireland, June 27, 2023- Bulawayo Athletic Club, Bulawayo
Oman: Not in the best form leading up to the tournament
The Omani side has been one of the most improved units in world cricket in last decade. They were nowhere near to making it to the ODI World Cup in the last edition and in this one, they finished in the top two of the World League Two, where they were promoted after doing well in the Cricket League Division Two in 2017.
However, ever since their qualification to the CWC Qualifiers, Oman have not had a good time entering this tournament. Just after the end of League Two, they lost twice to Canada and once to Bahrain in the Desert Cup T20I. They lost to Nepal and UAE in the ACC Premiership and then again to Nepal and Zimbabwe in the warm-up matches of the CWC Qualifiers.
Having quality players like Bilal Khan (Most Wicketsin League Two- 76 from 35 games) and Jatinder Singh (1098 runs from 35 games in League Two) and with their skipper Zeeshan Maqsood and Aaqiob Ilyas hitting centuries in teh warm-up matches, they would back themselves to play at their best potential and finish in the top three in their group to move to super six.
Oman Squad for Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2023
Zeeshan Maqsood (c), Aqib Ilyas (vc), Jatinder Singh, Kashyap Prajapati, Shoaib Khan, Mohammed Nadeem, Sandeep Goud, Ayaan Khan, Suraj Kumar, Adeel Shafique, Naseem Khushi, Bilal Khan, Kaleemullah, Fayyaz Butt, Jay Odedra, Samay Shrivastav, Rafiullah
Oman best playing 11
Jatinder Singh, Kashyap Prajapati, Zeeshan Maqsood (c), Aqib Ilyas (vc), Ayaan Khan, Shoaib Khan, Mohammed Nadeem, Suraj Kumar (wk), Bilal Khan, Kaleemullah, Fayyaz Butt,
Cricket World Cup Qualifiers Schedule
Oman vs Ireland, June 19, 2023- Bulawayo Athletic Club, Bulawayo
Oman vs UAE, June 21, 2023- Bulawayo Athletic Club, Bulawayo
Oman vs Sri Lanka, June 23, 2023- Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo
Oman vs Scotland, June 25, 2023- Bulawayo Athletic Club, Bulawayo
