THEY were the first winners of the ICC's flagship first-class tournament for Associate countries but Scotland have failed to repeat their 2004 success in Sharjah when they lifted the Intercontinental Cup.
A new campaign begins this week when they host Afghanistan - the side who beat them in their only other appearance in the final in 2010 - and the stakes are higher than ever before. The winner of this latest I-Cup will have the opportunity to join the elite ranks of the Test-playing nations two years hence through the ICC Test Challenge which will pit them against the 10th-ranked Full Member in a winner-takes-all series.
It is an enticing prospect for all eight I-Cup participants, comprising the Netherlands, Hong Kong, UAE, Namibia, Papua New Guinea and Ireland, as well as Scotland and Afghanistan. Scotland's challenge in the round-robin tournament will be launched at New Williamfield, Stirling, on Tuesday.
Beaten agonisingly by the Afghans in their recent World Cup clash in New Zealand, the Scots are in fine fettle following a convincing warm-up win against the UAE in Southampton last week.
Coach Grant Bradburn has stuck largely with the same group of players that performed at the Ageas Bowl, strengthening it with the addition of Durham's Calum MacLeod and Freddie Coleman of Warwickshire.
New Zealander Bradburn, almost exactly a year into his role, is beginning to make his mark on the national side and is excited about a summer which will also see Scotland co-host the ICC World Twenty20 qualifier as well as participating in the 50-over World Cricket League Championship.
His immediate goal is to master- mind a first win in this competition against the Afghans. "I wasn't aware that we hadn't beaten them in this format but that will make us even more determined," he said. "Afghanistan are a side we respect hugely. They are a tough and very proud side and we know we will need to be at our very best.
"We relish the opportunity to take them on in our home conditions and to show our four-day skills that are subtly different from the ones on show in our recent World Cup game with them.
"We have learned a lot from previous games against Afghanistan and we have also done our homework on one or two new players they have brought into their team.
"The stakes in this I-Cup are higher than ever before because of what is on offer at the end. At the moment it sits as a dream to play Test cricket but as this game draws closer our minds focus more on turning that dream into a reality."
While Scotland could have enforced the ICC's mandatory release clause to field all of their county players, Bradburn is happy to let Kyle Coetzer, Matt Machan, Josh Davey, Rob Taylor and Ruaidhri Smith concentrate on their commitments south of the border.
"We would obviously love to have full availability for all matches but we have to be realistic and strike a balance," the former Black Caps Test player said. "It is important for the county players to acknowledge their responsibilities to their primary employers and also consolidate their own futures.
"I'm happy with the balance of the squad for this match and it is pleasing to see three young players in Gavin Main, Andrew Umeed and Mark Watt who have come through our system earn their places on merit."
Bradburn was also eager to highlight the recent performances of Safyaan Sharif who has bounced back from his World Cup disappointment in style. Sharif failed to make the starting line-up for any of Scotland's six matches Down Under but has responded with several match-winning displays for Falkland as well as eight wickets against the UAE.
"I'm hugely pleased with the progress Safy is making. Obviously he would have loved to have played in the World Cup but it wasn't to be. However, he has come back with a lot of knowledge and learning from the experience of having been there."
For Sharif and his Scotland team-mates there may be future World Cup opportunities. For now, though, the carrot is to earn a place on cricket's Test stage.
Squad: P Mommsen capt, A Umeed, H Gardiner, F Coleman, R Berrington, C MacLeod, C de Lange, M Cross, S Sharif, A Evans, G Main, M Leask, M Watt.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article