Coach hails ‘fantastic display’ by Scotland

Acting head coach Toby Bailey praised his “ruthless” Scotland players after they dismissed Oman for just 24 runs in their first one-day international.

Scotland secured a 10-wicket victory from 20 balls in their innings after restricting their hosts to the fourth-lowest List A score in history.

Ruaidhri Smith and Adrian Neill both took four wickets after Scotland elected to field in Al Amarat and the hosts only managed one boundary before being bowled out in the 18th over. Six of the Oman batsmen scored ducks.

Matt Cross (10 not out) and Kyle Coetzer (16 no) then secured the inevitable victory with the help of four fours, including a match-clinching boundary.

The emphatic win in the first of three one-day contests came after Scotland triumphed in a four-team T20 tournament in Oman which also included Ireland and the Netherlands.

Bailey said: “We want to be dominant. We want to be ruthless. And that’s exactly what happened on the pitch. We got on top of them and wouldn’t let them go.

“The guys bowled brilliantly and bowled their lines. It’s fantastic to see the number of slips and short legs in a 50-over performance. A very ruthless performance.”

Sir Alastair Cook has backed England to end their long wait for a World Cup success and believes they are favourites to triumph on home soil.

England, captained by Eoin Morgan, top the One Day International world rankings with 100 days to go until the start of the 50-over tournament.

Ex-captain Cook ended his record-breaking international career last year as the country’s highest Test run scorer and most-capped player. Asked if he felt England were favourites to lift the trophy at Lord’s on July 14, the 34-year-old said: “Absolutely. Everyone’s very settled and they’ve got matchwinners pretty much from one to 15.

“It’s such an exciting time for English one-day cricket, brilliantly led by Eoin Morgan and they’ve got a hell of a chance to win this World Cup.

“They’ve got the ability to get massive scores, they bat all the way down with people who can whack it out of the park, and they’ve got some very skilful bowlers”