Scotland are slight underdogs, but won't be taken lightly: George Munsey

Scotland have made it to the World Cup Qualifiers in Zimbabwe after finishing top of the ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 table, finishing six points ahead of second-placed Oman. George Munsey has been the pillar of Scotland's batting for a few years now and believes that no team will afford to take them lightly.

They have shown they can compete and win in the recent ICC events. They beat Bangladesh in the T20 World Cup 2021 and followed that up with a win over West Indies in the following year's tournament in Australia.

“Representing Scotland in a qualifying process, it does not really get much better," Munsey said.

“We are the slight underdogs but I know for a fact that these other teams are not taking us lightly.That is something that we have learnt from playing these bigger teams and beating these bigger teams on the world stage.

“It is something we are all very excited about. Just look at the World Cup itself, it is only 10 teams, so we are fighting with the best of the best and that is something to be proud of. We went to South Africa on this pre-camp and one of the players spoke of this ‘pinch yourself’ moment.

"We have a great opportunity in our group, it is very competitive and obviously each team will be looking to get through the group.

“There are no easy games that is for sure, but I am confident in the guys that we brought over to get the job done and there are some exciting fixtures to look forward to as well, which is always nice."

Munsey goes into the Qualifiers at the back of a sensational hundred - his first in ODI cricket - against Namibia in February. He followed that up with a brilliant 60 against Nepal as Scotland lifted the League 2 title.

The southpaw is hopeful of continuing his good run of form in Zimbabwe. “It is a special memory to score a hundred, that is for sure,” he said.

“You probably don’t really recognise what you are doing at the time because it is our job to go out there and score the runs or take the wickets for your country.

“Of course, you are just getting the job done and putting all that hard work you have put into training into practice in matches, but it was a pretty cool feeling and a decent crowd.

“It is something you can look back on a few years later and think ‘that is pretty cool’, so the feeling is still there. 

“I would like to do that again, hit the qualifying stage and be a big part of this campaign.”

Scotland kickstart their Qualifiers campaign against Ireland on June 21 in the Group B encounter at the Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo. They also have the likes of UAE (June 23), Oman (June 25) and Sri Lanka (June 27) to contend with.