da poker： After the excitement of qualifying for the World Twenty20 tournament in England next year it’s back to first-class cricket for Ireland on Thursday as they aim for a hat-trick of Intercontinental Cup titles
da aposte e ganhe： Cricinfo staff06-Aug-2008
John Blain leads Scotland’s attack as they aim to push their Intercontinental Cup hopes © Getty Images
Scotland must beat Kenya in their Intercontinental Cup match which starts on Thursday to have any hope of qualifying for the finals. Scotland would go ten points clear of leaders Namibia if they won, but they would then face an anxious wait to see if remaining results went in their favour.Ireland, one of Scotland’s closest rivals, face away matches against Kenya and Namibia while one of Namibia’s remaining matches is at home against bottom side Bermuda. Scotland’s best hope appears to lie in victory followed by Namibia winning their two remaining matches and Kenya and Ireland cancelling each other out.Scotland are on a high after finishing in third place in the World Twenty20 Qualifier in Belfast, a spot that will give them a place in next year’s main event in England provided Zimbabwe Cricket’s board ratifies a decision made at the ICC annual conference to step back from the event.To secure third, Scotland beat Kenya in one of the most convincing – and one-sided – matches of the tournament, chasing down 107 to win by nine wickets with 11 balls in hand after Kyle Coetzer and Ryan Watson put on an opening stand of 102.Coetzer will be on county duty with Durham and is one of four changes in the squad with wicketkeeper Colin Smith, opener Gavin Hamilton and another county player, Navdeep Poonia, who is with Warwickshire, all missing.Dougie Lockhart comes in to open and keep wicket, while Ross Lyons, Qasim Sheikh and Omer Hussain are also all included. Lyons collected six wickets against Bermuda and seven against Canada, while Lockhart made his maiden first-class hundred in Toronto, a game in which Sheikh made 92.But if Scotland are flying, Kenya are struggling for lift-off. The World Twenty20 Qualifier was a disaster and the loss in the third and fourth-placed play-off means they will miss out on a tournament they were a part of in South Africa in 2007.A loss in Glasgow won’t end Kenya’s hopes of reaching the final but it will make it very tough. One of their remaining matches is against Netherlands, who have struggled badly in this tournament, but the other is against two-time defending champions Ireland.But before they can even think of the future, they have to contend with Scotland. David Obuya and Alfred Luseno are added to the squad that was in action in Belfast.Scotland (from) Ryan Watson (capt), Richie Berrington, Dewald Nel, John Blain, Gordon Drummond, Majid Haq, Omer Hussain, Dougie Lockhart, Ross Lyons, Qasim Sheikh, Neil McCallum, Fraser Watts.Kenya (from) Steve Tikolo (capt), Thomas Odoyo, Kennedy Otieno, Peter Ongondo, Tony Suji, Hiren Varaiya, Rakep Patel, Morris Ouma, Jimmy Kamande, Nehemiah Odhiambo, Elijah Otieno, Alex Obanda, Ragheb Aga, David Obuya, Alfred Luseno, Collins Obuya.
