Sri Lanka to tour Scotland for two ODIs ahead of the 2019 World Cup

Sri Lanka will travel to Scotland for two ODIs before their all-important trip to England and Wales for the 2019 World Cup. The team which is currently struggling to make a mark in international cricket will play the two ODIs on May 18 and May 21 – with the venues yet to be announced. The last time these two nations faced off was in two unofficial ODIs in Kent in early 2017 the result was squared at 1-1.

Scotland’s first ever One-Day International victory over a Test nation – Zimbabwe – came last year. The ODI was their first against a Test nation since the 2015 World Cup. Earlier this year, they registered another historic win when they beat top-ranked England in a nail-biter at Edinburgh. Scotland, batting first, scored 371 runs and set the record for the highest total by an Associate Nation in ODIs. They also went past Kenya’s 21-year-old record of 347 runs.

An excited Scottish skipper

The team is competitive and needs to play much more of competitive cricket, which the ICC needs to look after. Scotland captain Kyle Coetzer was excited about the series against Sri Lanka and believed that playing in front of the home crowd would help cricket grow further in the country.

“There is nothing better that playing cricket at home in front of a full house of Scottish fans and we are determined to continue to improve on our recent performances,” Coetzer was quoted as saying on espncricinfo. “We will be well prepared for these matches and go out to win.

“We are really excited to be playing these ODIs versus another Full Member. Following our 1-1 draw in the 50-overs series last year, it will be a real challenge for us to go one better and win this ODI series.”

When ICC announced its decision to reduce the number of teams in the World Cup from 14 to 10, they faced heavy criticism for the same. The number 13th ranked Scotland missed out and its time we give more opportunities to the associate nations.

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