Journey of Scotland and Namibia leading into T20 WC in UAE and Oman.

 A great start to the T20 WC qualifiers where two associate nations Scotland and Namibia have made their presence strong and have qualified to Super 12 and will compete against the best in the world. Not to forget PNG who did not play cricket for more than a year due to pandemic. Looking at the fielding of PNG I would say they are the strong contenders for the fielding team of the tournament.

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Scotland.

They have made their presence felt on the International stage for quite some time for more than a decade. They beat England in the T20 WC held in England way back in 2009. They beat the same team in a one-off ODI held in Scotland in 2019. They have been playing quality cricket but overall didn't do justice to the talent which they possess.

Scotland has the likes of Davey and Wheal bot world-class fast bowlers having played county championships and Vitality Blast along with English players. Along with this, they had even been part of "The Hundred where only 4 foreigners are allowed per team. These both carry a good amount of experience and have the likes of Shariff who has been handy when required.

Kyle Coetzer, Macleod, and Riche Berrington have been playing for more than a decade with consistency. The Scottish captain in particular has been a go-to man whenever the team needed him. Berrington has been a good all-rounder contributing equally with both bat and ball.

So it was just time for all these experienced players to get together and play collectively as a team which they were lacking. Cometh the T20 WC they have joined hands and have given their best to qualify for the main stage who are going to compete against the test playing nations. It is high time for Scotland to get the test playing status.

Namibia.

With a population of just 2 million in the South of Africa, no one would have ever expected them to qualify for the Super 12. But with the likes of David Wiese, they have put in strong performances and have made their mark felt at the global level. Unlike Scotland, they do not have experience in their bag instead play collectively as a team not depending on individual performance.

They have played 4 qualifiers before entering the main stage of the T20 WC. Firstly they played the South Sahara region then the African Qualification. After that, they played the global qualification held in UAE. At last, they played the final qualifying stages as well. Playing all the levels and progressing is no mean task. 

Their captain Gerald Erasmus was a final year student in 2018 who was held in a dilemma of taking up cricket or pursuing law. But with ICC extending the ODI status and with T20 qualifiers approaching he took up cricket and now played the captain's knock against Ireland in the final group stage match. Such has been their struggle with profession and cricket.    

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