Davey excited to test himself against the world’s best players

Josh Davey has taken nine wickets for Scotland so far in the T20 World Cup – and the bowler is licking his lips at the prospect of taking on some of the best batters on the planet this week.

The 31-year-old all-rounder is set to lead the Scotland attack in Dubai against New Zealand tomorrow in their first Group Two Super 12 match since they were defeated by Afghanistan and Namibia last week.

Currently, New Zealand are ranked fourth in the world in the T20 format with matches against third-in-the-world India and second-in-theworld Pakistan to come on Friday and Sunday respectively.

Scotland will be big underdogs in all three matches, but Davey, a right arm, mediumfast bowler, said: “This is what World Cups are about, the chance to play the best teams in the world.

“You can challenge yourself to see where you are personally and also we can earmark where we are as a team against these nations.

“It’s going to be tough, but this is why you play in these tournaments, to grow the side and learn.

“In terms of my bowling so far, I’ve just tried to keep things as simple as I can and play the percentages.

“Coming off the back of the county season with Somerset, I’ve developed some gameplans that have been fairly successful so I’m just trying to stick to those and take them to the next level – and, if I execute, the plans generally work.

“I’ve bowled pretty well throughout the tournament so I’m pretty happy.”

Against Afghanistan last Monday, Scotland, ranked 14th in the world, were simply blown away and versus Namibia last Wednesday they lost three wickets in the opening over and never recovered.

Now Aberdeen-born Davey wants them to rediscover the form that saw them beat Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea and Oman in the First Round, to qualify for the Super 12.

“We had belief coming into the Super 12,” he said.

“There have been a couple of disappointing results since, but I don’t think that belief has gone.

“We all need to stand up, know our roles, play smart cricket and hopefully we can come out on the right side of things.”