Netherlands and Scotland flex their muscles in Oman T20I Quadrangular

Ever since Afghanistan and Ireland’s ascendancy into the top tier of International Cricket were confirmed with Full membership status in 2017, the onus of the next top tier of Associate member credentials fell back into the hands of Scotland and Netherlands. After all, they have been in the limelight in major ICC tournaments for quite some time now and although the team results didn’t go their way, they have shown many a times that they do belong to test their mettle against the more fancied opponents.

That was until the end of 2017. Netherlands grabbed their chance to compete with the Full members by winning the ICC World Cricket League Championships 2015-2017 in the new World Cup qualifying structure in the Super League from 2020-2022. And Scotland have been registering consistent performances in both T20 and 50-overs format to start knocking on the doors to eventually apply for full membership themselves in the near future.

Hence, 2019 becomes a very important year for both with opportunity to qualify for the 2020 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup via the global qualifiers looms in Oct/Nov along with some important ODI fixtures for Scotland at home prior to the commencement of 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup. Therefore, the first International assignment for both in the ongoing T20I quadrangular tournament also involving the host’s and Ireland provides a significance chance to start the year on a positive note. And both haven’t disappointed so far.

Netherlands got the better of Scotland in their first encounter, while both have registered victories over Oman and Ireland respectively in the 2nd round of group matches to have a good standing in the points table so far. For Oman, these matches along with the three match 50-overs series against Scotland right after the quadrangular will provide crucial preparatory experience before they travel to Namibia to take part in the all-important ICC World Cricket League Division 2 in Apr 2019.

While Scotland and Netherlands have had their share of success in the shortest format, Ireland’s emphasis on the longer formats has somehow overshadowed their performances in the T20 format and that reflects in their team rankings in the ICC team rankings and new head coach Graham Ford is ready to change the approach with the elevation of Kevin O’Brien to the top of the order alongside Paul Stirling and the move has been providing some degree of success so far.

Oman T20I Quadrangular Points Table:

Brief Scores:

Scotland 153/7 in 20 overs (Calum MacLeod 53, George Munsey 32, Craig Wallace 27, Timm van der Gugten 2/35, Fred Klassen 2/38, Pieter Seelaar 1/19) lost to Netherlands 154/3 in 19.5 overs (Tobias Visse 71 n.o, Stephen Myburgh 24, Wesley Barresi 20 n.o, Safyaan Sharif 1/28, Michael Leask 1/31) by 7 wickets

Ireland 159/5 in 20 overs (Paul Stirling 71, Andrew Balbirnie 34, Lorcan Tucker 22 n.o, Fayyaz Butt 2/19, Ajay Lalcheta 1/28) beat Oman 144/9 in 20 overs (Fayyaz Butt 25 n.o, Mohammad Nadeem 25, Jatinder Singh 22, Simi Singh 3/15, George Dockrell 2/20, Josh Little 2/24) by 15 runs

Oman 166/4 in 20 overs (Jatinder Singh 63, Khurram Nawaz 58, Naseem Khushi 28 n.o, Roelof van der Merwe 2/14, Fred Klassen 1/26) lost to Netherlands 167/2 in 18.5 overs (Ben Cooper 50 n.o, Tobias Visee 44, Stephen Myburgh 34, Ryan ten Doeschate 32 n.o, Sandeep Goud 2/36) by 8 wickets

Ireland 180/7 in 20 overs (Kevin O’Brien 65, Paul Stirling 56, Mark Watt 3/26, Safyaan Sharif 1/35) lost to Scotland 181/4 in 18.3 overs (Kyle Coetzer 74, George Munsey 50, Calum MacLeod 35 n.o, Craig Wallace 19 n.o, Shane Getkate 2/15, Boyd Rankin 1/39) by 6 wickets