World T20 - reflections

Fancy stuff to get to 5th place v Canada

If Fantasy Bob were a betting man, he might have put 50p on Ireland and Afghanistan as the most likely victors from the T20 qualifying competition.  FB doesn't wish to be disloyal to Scotland.  He would have put £1on them.

He was hopeful for Scotland - they had their moments but had to contend with some typical Scottish misfortune in injuries to key players. For Scotland to progress everything had to be right all the time and everyone had to fire on all cylinders.  That's a big ask.  Once Scotland had been beaten by Namibia - rather surprisingly in FB's view - they struggled to regain momentum.  Namibia had a purple patch, playing above themselves to beat Scotland and Ireland on successive days.  But that run came well and truly to an end  in their second meeting with Ireland.

All in all, going into the competition, the two victorious sides seemed the strongest sides and FB hopes they cause some havoc among the big boys later this year in Sri Lanka.

Scotland scored well - they were the second top run getters in the competition but found it more difficult to keep their opponents from scoring.  They were also the second most expensive bowling attack.  By contrast Afghanistan and Ireland's bowling pegged teams back - there is no more effective way of slowing the scoring than taking wickets and this is what these attacks managed to do.  Can Scotland find the next level? Was it the challenge of dry flat wickets which bear no resemblance to the surfaces that Scottish bowlers grew up on?

Scotland is a side in development - particularly compared to the Irish who depend on senior players.  There was strong progress by some players - none more so than Calum MacLeod.  So the future looks bright.

What FB is looking forward to now is a convincing set of results against county opposition in the CB40 and giving England a real fright in the match in August.

Eyes down for a full on season.  Come on Scotland.