Dynamic Scotland will face inspiring Nepal on their third match of the ICC World Cup Qualifier 2018.
Having already registered consecutive two wins, Scotland is all set for a new challenge which will take place at Queen Sport Club, Bulawayo.
Scotland, the team which is forced to revolve around same ICC’s cycle have already mark their presence in the tournament. They had already registered three victories in this tourney (including warm-up match), and the best part is three different players step up in different occasion. Matthew Cross shone in warm-up matches followed by Macleod took out his best against Afghanistan and skipper Coetzer stand tall against Hong Kong. Scotland had trashed tournament hot favorite Afghanistan by 7 wickets, continuing the momentum they outplayed Hong Kong by 4 wickets. They are all over the opposition and flying towards another planet. Scotland has won both matches chasing the target. Talking about their warm-up matches, they got to chase the target against PNG where they sealed a victory comfortably. Not trying to prove them as one dimensional but since 2015, Scotland lost 11 out of 19 matches while defending the target. Likewise, they had won 7 out of 13 matches chasing down the target (since 2015).
Talking about Nepal, they have a notable bad record while setting the target. Since 2015, Nepal won only a match out of 9 while batting first. While they took out victory on 8 occasions out of 13 matches while chasing down the target. So, keeping pitch condition aside if both the team decide to play on their strength then, both side will love to chase the target. Nepal had started their tournament with 116 runs defeat against Zimbabwe. Rather than sticking to it, Rhinos should draw positivity and move forward. Traditionally, Nepal has weak batting line-up. However, they succeed to score 264 runs against strong Zimbabwe which must be boosting their confidence.
Scotland has upper hand in tomorrow’s contest against Nepal. They faced each other three times before where Scotland surpassed Nepal on all of three occasions. Past record, on and off-field performance all redirected the pendulum towards Scotland. However, they can’t take Nepal lightly. Nepal, the team which has fighting spirit, will surely make Scotland all the way to victory.
Weather – (03/08)
Day’s temperature will be hot at 86°F. Rain is unlikely to pour as only 2% chances of rain is predicated. We will surely get to enjoy full 100 over of play tomorrow.
Squad
SCOTLAND
Kyle Coetzer (C)
Richie Berrington (VC)
Matthew Cross
Alasdair Evans
Michael Jones
Michael Leask
Calum MacLeod
George Munsey
Safyaan Sharif
Chris Sole
Tom Sole
Craig Wallace
Mark Watt
Brad Wheal
Stuart Whittingham
NEPAL
Paras Khadka (C)
Dipendra Airee
Lalit Bhandari
Shakti Gauchan
Sompal Kami
Karan KC
Rohit Kumar
Sandeep Lamichhane
Gyanendra Malla
Dilip Nath
Lalit Rajbanshi
Basanta Regmi
Anil Sah
Aarif Sheikh
Sharad Vesawkar
