New generation shine as Scotland go top of League 2

An unbeaten run through their home CWC League 2 trilateral series against Namibia and Oman, marred only by a wash-out in their opening match against the latter, saw Scotland leapfrog Canada to the top of the points table in the second edition of Cricket World Cup League 2, the ICC's premier Associates ODI competition,, taking seven points from four games thanks in large part to the efforts of newcomers Charlie Cassell, Michael English, Jasper Davidson and Charlie Tear.

Coming back to ODI cricket after an impressive showing at the T20 World Cup, but with just a single win over hosts UAE to show from their opening tour of the league, defending champions Scotland took full advantage of home conditions to reassert their dominance over the competition. Namibia would come closest to taking two points off the hosts in their first encounter, repeatedly taking a DLS lead in a back-and-forth chase with rain threatening, but the Scots held their nerve and the rain held off long enough for the requisite wickets to fall, before finally coming down with the hosts well ahead.

The wettest European summer in recent memory had already forced a postponement of the third of 24 scheduled League 2 trilateral series, with the Scots first home series initially scheduled for May. The weather would nonetheless deny the hosts a near-certain win in the series opener at Forfashire outside Dundee, the rain cutting Scotland's chase short after 12.2 overs with 25 runs still needed after Jasper Davidson (4-23) and Mark Watt (2-8) had seen Oman skittled for just 123.

Oman had looked in horrendous form with the bat ahead of the tour, scoring barely 200 runs across two 50-over warm-ups against Scotland A, but twin half-centuries for former skipper Zeeshan Maqsood and (relative) youngster Khalid Kail helped them post their best score of the tour in the first neutral match, posting 233-8 despite Ben Shikongo's career-best ODI figures of 4-29. The Namibians made light work of the target, however, most all the top-order getting a score, with Jan Frylink's 73 from his now-customary number three spot driving the chase and delivering a six-wicket win.

An imperious 91 off 62 from opener George Munsey, with support from Brandon McMullen (37 off 53) had put the Scots in a commanding position at 160-1 early in their first match against Namibia, before both fell to Tangeni Lungameni in the space of 3 balls. Skipper Richie Berrington struck a rearguard 79* as the visitors fought their way back into the game, but found little support from the middle order, Safyaan Sharif's 23 from number 10 the only other substantial contribution to the total of 290-9. Namibia were slow out of the gate as opener Lo-Handre Lourens picked up an unwanted record with a 23-ball duck, but Michael van Lingen's 85-ball 60 ensured they had a platform. Despite the regular loss of wickets through the middle overs skipper Gerhard Erasmus found the requisite acceleration to drag his side back into contention as the skies darkened, repeatedly pushing ahead of DLS par, but the rain refused to fall for them. The Namibian lower order kept fighting even after Erasmus holed out off Jasper Davidson for a 51-ball 63, but four successive wickets for Michael Leask broke the chase entirely before the weather finally arrived to find Namibia 47 short of par.

The next match against Oman belonged entirely to debutant Charlie Cassell. The Aberdeen-born, Australian-raised right arm quick came on first-change at his home ground with Oman already in trouble at 22-2 and became the first bowler to take wickets with each of his first two deliveries in ODI cricket, pinning Maqsood LBW with his first and the clean-bowling Ayyan Khan with his next. He bagged another two balls later on his way to a record 7-21 on debut as Oman were bundled out for just 91 to set up a stroll to victory, McMullen top-scoring with an unbeaten 37* in a perfunctory chase.

Oman would not go home winless however, skipper Aaqib Ilyas' gritty 68 off 129 underpinning a grinding chase of 197 in their final match of the tour against Namibia to set up the first victory of the competition for his side. In the first innings long-serving left-arm spearhead Bilal Khan became the fastest seam bowler by matches played to reach 100 ODI wickets, claiming 3-50 as Namibia were held to 196-9. As so often towards the back end of a tour, Erasmus's men (the skipper himself excepted) seemed to be flagging in the field, some 19 extras and handful of missed chances allowing Oman to overhaul the total with five balls and four wickets to spare.

The departure of Munsey for GT20 duty in Canada ahead of the final match of the series opened a spot for long-time understudy Michael English at the top of the order, and the debutant took full advantage striking a 122-ball 107 as the hosts posted an imposing 301-6 against a tired-looking Namibian side, who were rapidly reduced to 9-3 in reply. Erasmus marshaled something of a fightback with support from Malan Kruger, but when the Namibia skipper fell to Brad Currie shortly after posting his half-century the tourists' hopes soon followed, eventually subsiding to a 138-run defeat.

The result takes title-holders Scotland a point clear at the top of the League 2 table. Nearest rivals Canada, still unbeaten, will have the opportunity to reclaim their early lead when they travel to the Netherlands in August.