Abu Dhabi: Scotland’s role in this World Cup will be more of a spoiler. Though nobody expects a path-breaking show from them, they can prove to be a thorn in the flesh of some of the top teams vying for the title.

If the Scots can pull off a couple of upset wins, they could consider their job well done. And, if you ask if they have the resources to do that, the answer is yes. For the simple reason being some of their players have the know-how of playing in the English County. They have enough experience after having rubbed shoulders with some of the best in the sport and when you have done that, you cannot be rated as a novice.

Scotland are making their third World Cup appearance — the first being in 1999 and then eight years later in the Caribbean in 2007. However, the non-Test playing nation have made very little impact and are yet to register a win at the mega event — a forgettable record that they will be keen to set right this time round.

To inspire them at this biggest cricketing showdown, they have former England One Day International (ODI) captain Paul Collingwood and New Zealander Grant Bradburn by their side as coaching staff.

Scotland’s road to this World Cup wasn’t very easy and they had to come through the ICC Cricket World Cup qualifiers in New Zealand in January last year. Topping the Super Six table ensured them the berth, but they carried on and went on to clinch the title beating UAE in the final.

Since then Scotland have come up with some noteworthy performances. They took on England in one-off ODI in May and though they lost that rain-hit encounter in Aberdeen by 39 runs by Duckworth/Lewis method, Josh Davey impressed with ball (3 for 28 in four overs). His victims were Jos Buttler, Ravi Bopara and Joe Root, giving enough evidence that he can be a handy bowler.

Scotland, later in September, took on Ireland in a three-match series and despite impressive performances from off-spinner Majid Haq and Callum MacLeod, went down fighting 1-2. Just a month ago, Scotland registered an emphatic 150-run win against Afghanistan in a tri-series in UAE — Ireland being the third team — with Davey producing career-best figures of 6 for 28 and Iain Wardlaw 4 for 22.

Their batting will be heavily reliant on skipper Preston Mommsen and the experienced Kyle Coetzer, the Northamptonshire batsman. Mommsen, who took over from Coetzer as captain, was exceptional in the World Cup qualifiers in New Zealand amassing 520 runs in eight innings at an average of 88.66 in the tournament. His unbeaten 139 helped Scotland win the title by 41 runs against UAE in the final. Apart from walking away with the player of the tournament award, Mommsen was also named the 2014 ICC Associate and Affiliate player of the year.

Presence of Leicestershire all-rounder Rob Taylor, Matt Machan of Sussex, Hamish Gardiner and Richie Berrington adds more depth to the team. Berrington is the one to watch out for as he is the first Scottish batsman to score a Twenty20 International century against Bangladesh way back in July 2012. In the recent tri-series in UAE, he scored a match-winning 62 against Afghanistan batting at No. 6 and has the ability to pick up wickets with his medium pacers.

Scotland, however, will be facing a test of fire straight away as they will be facing World Cup 2015 co-hosts New Zealand in their opener at the University Oval in Dunedin, in front of a sell-out crowd. Their next challenge lie against England six days later and coaches Bradburn and Collingwood will be hoping that their team draw some inspiration from the first two matches before taking on the other associate nation Afghanistan.