Edinburgh: Scotland’s shock One-day International win over England has boosted their chances of securing Test-playing status, the country’s cricket board has said.
Scotland registered their first victory over their neighbours at Edinburgh on Sunday, bowling England out for 365 after posting their highest score of 371 for five.
“I can see us getting there in the next couple of years,” Tony Brian, chairman of Cricket Scotland, told the BBC.
“We’re so close to our goal of full member status now.
” The International Cricket Council (ICC) has 12 full members, with Ireland and Afghanistan promoted in June last year.
The ICC has now reduced the number of teams at the 2019 World Cup to 10 from 14, making it far more difficult for associate nations to qualify.
“The ICC set strict criteria for us to meet for full member status and we’re only two away,” Brian added. “We probably need one more win against a top nation and our women’s team, who are also rapidly improving, need to do well at a World Cup qualifier.”
Australia spinner Ashton Agar, meanwhile, says England’s confidence will have suffered a blow with their shock defeat against Scotland and the visitors will look to capitalise on that when their One-day series starts on Wednesday.
England, the top-ranked team in the 50-overs format, lost by six runs at Edinburgh as the Scots recorded their first win over their neighbours.
“It was good for us that England lost that game because you always like to start things off with a win,” Agar told reporters.
Australia began their tour with convincing wins over Sussex and Middlesex in their warm-up matches ahead of the first of five one-dayers at The Oval.
“I think we’ve got momentum coming into these tours and to play a couple of practice games and get a couple of wins is great for us,” he added. “They’re a really dangerous side, though, and you can’t ever take a side like that lightly.” — Reuters
