Prolific pace bowler Sharif out to claim a major scalp
SAFYAAN SHARIF will go into today’s opener against Bangladesh confident Scotland can progress to the Super 12 stage.
The Yorkshire-born fast bowler is Scotland’s most prolific international wicket taker with 121 wickets across 94 white-ball matches and he knows a victory this afternoon will put them in an ideal position to go on and clinch a place against the major cricketing nations in the latter stages.
After being eliminated in the first round in 2016, Sharif believes this side are well equipped to go one better thanks to a positive mindset. He said: ‘We’re going to play a fearless and aggressive brand of cricket. Associate cricket has improved massively since then and I’m confident that we can give anyone a competitive game. ‘When we beat England (in 2018), you could see how much it meant for us as a nation and that’s certainly something we believe we can do against teams during this tournament as well.’
Sharif made his debut in 2011 and is now an experienced member of the side. Aside from taking the famous wicket of Mark Wood to take Scotland to their first ever victory over England, Sharif is renowned for his variation and his ability to bowl at the death.
On the slow, spin-friendly wickets in the Middle East, he believes the Scottish pace attack will still have an important role to play alongside the spinners.
‘The wickets here are flatter and slightly slower but our seam attack is pretty good,’ he said. ‘We need to take early wickets in the powerplay and bowl well at the death. Games could go right down to the wire so our role is vital.
‘It’s going to be a tough game on Sunday. Bangaldesh a strong side but we have beaten them before in a T20 so I don’t see why we can’t turn up and look to get victory.’