WITH an unblemished record of three wins, the first week of Scotland’s campaign to qualify for next summer’s World Cup could hardly have gone better.
The tone was set by victory over pre-tournament favourites Afghanistan on the opening day and followed by further successes against Hong Kong and Nepal to ensure a place in the Super Six stage.
However, bigger challenges lie ahead, a fact acknowledged by batsman Craig Wallace who is relishing the prospect of tomorrow’s Group B decider against hosts Zimbabwe and televised Super Six clashes with West Indies and Ireland.
The outcome of tomorrow’s match at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo is about much more than topping the group since the winners will carry four points through to the later stages while the losers will have to be content with just two.
Wallace, who has become a fixture in the team’s middle order, said: “It’s been a brilliant tournament for us so far. We’ve played some pretty good cricket and can’t complain with three wins out of three.
“The guys are in great spirits and morale is high as you would expect in a winning team. But we have to continue to take it a game at a time and the Zimbabwe game is going to be massive with so much at stake.”
Such is the level of interest among local supporters that the organisers have taken the decision to move the fixture to the 13,000 capacity Queens Club from the smaller Bulawayo Athletic Club which was scheduled to stage the match.
Expectations are high that the Zimbabwe team, for whom former Ayr professional Sikander Raza has become a key performer, can recapture their place in the higher echelons of international cricket.
However, Scotland have their own ambitions and Wallace, a member of the Scotland team who beat tomorrow’s opponents in Edinburgh last summer, added: “We’re buzzing for this game. It would mean everything to us to pull off another win and take full points into the Super Six.
“We’ve shown with the result last year that we don’t have any cause to fear them. I know they have home advantage but conditions so far have been quite similar to back home.”
While it is Scotland’s well-balanced bowling unit which has caught the eye, Wallace believes there is more to come in all departments.
“The bowlers have been fantastic. We’ve bowled out all three sides and that’s what we’ll keep aiming to do. I still think we can lift our game and we’ll try to improve each time we go on the park.”
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