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| March 22, 2007 | Thursday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 2, 1428 |
Scotland chase victory in battle of minnows
BASSETERRE, March 21: Scotland face fellow World Cup minnows Netherlands here on Thursday determined to avoid the wooden-spoon in Group A which has predictably been dominated by Australia and South Africa.
Both lost by embarrassing margins to world No 1 South Africa and two-time defending champions Australia, but the Scots hope to be in the ascendancy when it comes to the sport's second tier.
“The big thing for us is Holland and we have got to go out and show we are one of the top associate teams,” said stand-in captain Ryan Watson.
Scotland lost to Australia by 221 runs but batted to their set plans against South Africa, scoring their highest World Cup score of 186-8, a performance which gave them renewed confidence ahead of their final match of the 2007 tournament.
“Holland are a strong side who have run us close a few times. It's a big game and a slightly different pressure playing them because we are almost expected to win – and that is something we have to take on board,” said Watson after the seven-wicket loss to South Africa.
Watson, who stood in for regular captain Craig Wright who was attending a family funeral in Scotland, said his team must improve their fielding if they were to achieve their first ever World Cup win.
“South Africa were magnificent in the field, and those are the sorts of standards we have to go and achieve if we're going to win against the Netherlands,” said Watson.
South African captain Graeme Smith praised the Scotland team, saying they were the better of the two associate sides in Group A.
Scotland outlasted the Netherlands by two runs when they last competed in the World Cricket League in Kenya earlier this year.
The Dutch and Scottish have one thing in common – both have former Australian first-class cricketers as their coaches. The Scots have Peter Drinnen and the Dutch have Peter Cantrell – both from Queensland.
The Netherlands, mauled by 221 runs by South Africa and by 229 runs by Australia, hoped to improve their current form.
Captain Luuk van Troost said it would be a happy ending if they beat their fellow associates.
“We are looking to win that game and if we do it would be a consolation for us,” said Troost, whose team has only one World Cup win – against Namibia – in the 2003 World Cup held in South Africa.
Teams (from):
SCOTLAND: Craig Wright (captain), Ryan Watson, John Blain, Dougie Brown, Gavin Hamilton, Majid Haq, Paul Hoffmann, Douglas Lockhart, Ross Lyons, Neil McCallum, Dewald Nel, Navdeep Poonia, Glenn Rogers, Colin Smith, Fraser Watts.
NETHERLANDS: Luuk van Troost (captain), Peter Borren, Daan van Bunge, Ryan ten Doeschate, Mark Jonkman, Muhammad Kashif, Alexei Kervezee, Tim de Leede, Adeel Raja, Darron Reekers, Edgar Schiferli, Jeroen Smits, Billy Stelling, Eric Szwarczynski, Bas Zuiderent.
Umpires: Tony Hill (New Zealand) and Asoka de Silva (Sri Lanka).
3rd umpire: Mark Benson (England).
Reserve umpire: Steve Bucknor (West Indies).—AFP
Match starts at 6:30pm
Expected weather: 27 Centigrade degrees (80 degrees Fahrenheit) with possible showers.
Pitch: Firm and brown.
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