The Scotland national cricket team, it is fair to say, are improving all of the time, but they are definitely not at the level that they are aiming for. One of the things to admire about the Scottish cricket team is that they are always looking to get better and better, and they are never happy to just rest on their laurels. In this article, we are going to look at how they performed at the 2021 T20 World Cup and what their prospects are for the 2022 T20 World Cup.
Performance at the 2021 T20 World Cup
Since they are an associate member, Scotland had to qualify for the 2021 T20 World Cup via the 2019 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifiers, and as a result they were put into the First Round, where they were grouped with Bangladesh, Oman, and Papua New Guinea.
They would have believed that they had a chance of making it through to the Super 12 stage, but not many who bet on cricket online would have been putting a lot of money on them to do so. However, in their first match against Bangladesh, who were the clear favourites with the bookies to top the group, the Scots won by six runs to give themselves a great chance of qualifying for the Super 12 stage. They did so courtesy of a solid performance against Papua New Guinea and a crushing in over Oman.
They were put into Group 2 in the Super 12 stage alongside Pakistan, New Zealand, India, Afghanistan, and Namibia. This meant that they would get to test themselves against some of the best players in world cricket, but anyone who likes to do a spot of cricket betting definitely would not have put money on them to cause an upset.
They probably fancied themselves to beat Namibia, another associate member, but they lost that game quite comfortably. In the other matches, they were thrashed by Afghanistan by 130 runs, lost to India by eight wickets after being bowled out for 85, lost to Pakistan by 72 runs, and lost to New Zealand by 16 runs. In other words, they did not really come close to winning any game in the Super 12 stage.
To even make it to the Super 12 stage was an achievement for the Scotland team when you take into account the fact that they train on a field that is located at a school in Edinburgh. If they want to get better, and this a sentiment that was recently echoed by their captain, Kyle Coetzer, then they need to have proper training facilities and pitches to train on. We hope that this is something that can be arranged because we look forward to seeing just how much this Scotland team can improve.
2022 U19 Cricket World Cup Highlights the Work Needed to be Done
The Scotland U19 cricket team were recently in the West Indies taking part in the 2022 Cricket World Cup, but it did not go well for them. They were drawn into a group alongside Sri Lanka, Australia, and the West Indies. they lost to Sri Lanka by 40 runs, were bowled out for 95 against the West Indies and lost by 7 wickets, and they were beaten by Australia by 7 wickets with more than 10 overs left.
They moved to the plate quarter-finals, where they met Zimbabwe and lost by 108 runs. They will now take on Canada in the Plate Play-Off Semi-Finals to see who will play in the 13th-place Play-Off. This tournament has shown just how important it is for training facilities to improve in Scotland because if they cannot compete at junior level, then they are going to continue to struggle to compete at a senior level against the big teams.
Playing at the 2022 T20 World Cup
Scotland have qualified already to play at the 2022 T20 World Cup that will take place in Australia from the 16th of October until the 13th of November due to the fact that they made it to the Super 12 stage at the 2021 edition. Once again, they will start off in the First Round, and will be in Group B alongside the West Indies and two teams from the qualifiers.
It is likely that the four remaining teams that qualify will be four of Netherlands, Ireland, Papua New Guinea, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Nepal, or Zimbabwe. Regardless of who the Scots get from this group, those who bet on cricket online, should be tempted to bet on them finishing in the top 2 and making it through to the Super 12 Stage once again.
Then, depending on who they end up in a group with, they might be able to cause an upset and pick up a win. Even if they do not and they end up losing all their games once again, the experience will be invaluable to them as you can only get better by playing against the best teams and players regularly.
The Odds at the Bookies for the 2022 T20 World Cup
Below you can find the current odds for the outright winner of the 2022 T20 World Cup. These odds are subject to change, of course, but it at least gives you a good idea as to who the bookmakers think will go on to lift title.
- India: 4.00
- Australia: 4.33
- England: 4.50
- New Zealand: 7.50
- Pakistan: 8.00
- South Africa: 11.00
- West Indies: 13.00
- Sri Lanka: 26.00
- Afghanistan: 34.00
- Bangladesh: 34.00
- Namibia: 1001.00
- Scotland: 1001.00
Who Would We Bet on to Win the 2022 T20 World Cup?
Well, in an ideal world, we would put a couple of pounds on Scotland to win and then sit back and watch as they go on to beat everyone in their path to lift the title, while also winning us a crisp £2,000 profit. However, as you know, we do not live in an idea world, and there is no chance that Scotland will lift the title.
So, who would we realistically bet on? Well, we cannot look beyond the 4.33 for Australia to be honest. They went into the 2021 T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates with not many giving them a chance of winning, and this looked like a fair enough assumption when they were annihilated by England in their group. However, they got better as the tournament went on and won pretty comfortably against New Zealand in the final.
They are going to have pretty much the same team, but this time around they are going to have the added advantage of playing at home in conditions that they are very familiar with. Therefore, we would not be surprised if they managed to retain their title later this year.
Obviously, the likes of India and England will have something to say about that, but we think that England’s death bowling might let them down once again. At the time of writing, in overs 15-20, they have the worst economy out of any top ten team. India, on the other hand, will always be there or there abouts, but they seem to struggle under the pressure of expectation that is put on their shoulders by hundreds of millions Indian cricket fans.
In such tournaments there is always a dark horse, and we are liking the look of West Indies for this title. They have a number of batsmen who can hit the ball miles and they bat really deep, which is always helpful. Their bowling attack is not the best, but they are far from bad, and their batting power can help compensate for any bowling deficiencies.
