Scotland reboot World Cup quest against PNG

Scotland’s cricketers will today bid to kickstart their World Cup qualification quest after a 22-month wait.

Shane Burger’s men line-up against Papua New Guinea in Muscat to resume a campaign that last saw them in action in December 2019.

Since then, trips to USA, PNG and Namibia have been called off along with two home tri-series as Covid stalled Scotland’s efforts to reach the 2023 global tournament in India.

The Scots have completed just eight matches in World Cup League 2, winning four, while Oman have stormed to the top of a lopsided seven-team table with 11 victories from 14 games.

Scotland will get the chance to cut the gap when they play Oman on Tuesday and next Saturday.

Burger said: “It’s been a frustrating time but we finally got back into action in last week’s T20 series against Zimbabwe and we learned a lot from that.

“Conditions in Oman will be a lot different to what we’ve been used to training and playing back in Edinburgh with temperatures in the high 30s but we’ve prepared for it.”

Burger has warned against complacency in today’s clash with PNG who have become the group’s whipping boys, losing all eight of their matches to date.

He added: “We must not take PNG lightly because they’ve shown in the past they can be a dangerous side.

“We know what a big week we have coming up in terms of qualifying for the World Cup and we will need to be at our best against Oman.

“We missed many opportunities against Zimbabwe and didn’t nail all three skillsets – batting, bowling and fielding – when we were under pressure.

“But I believe we are peaking at the right time.”

With conditions likely to favour spin, Hamza Tahir could come back into the side after missing out on the Zimbabwe series.