‘Must be willing to lose to win’ – Kyle Coetzer

Scotland are the defending champions going into the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe. But, with four Full Member nations among the 10 sides in the competition and with only two teams set to make it to the event in the United Kingdom in 2019, how can Scotland give themselves the best chance of retaining their title?

Only a high-risk, high-returns approach will do the trick, said captain Kyle Coetzer. “You have to be willing to lose to win," he said

Scotland are in Group B, alongside Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Nepal and Zimbabwe, the hosts. Coetzer urged his side to embrace an expressive, positive style of cricket.

“The group stages will be vital to take some points through,” he said. “I know it is easier said than done, but we have to play our brand of cricket, our aggressive brand of cricket. There is no point in going and trying to play safely. You have to be willing to lose to win and especially in a tournament like this that is so cut-throat, we must be willing to go hard.

“If you go aggressive, yes you might turn over a side and beat them convincingly, but also when the tight games come in, you are not shying away from situations. Staying in that frame of mind, we are going to push towards victory.”

Scotland strolled to a seven-wicket win in their first warm-up, against PNG, but lost a last-ball thriller to Ireland in their next outing.

Coetzer felt the side’s form was balanced nicely going into the main games. “Hitting the ground running is important,” he said. "But it is also important to maybe remember that peaking is an important thing to get right too. If you are peaking too early you might peak out towards the end of the tournament."

And they want desperately to get it right. Having been in three ICC Cricket World Cups so far and with several members of the squad having experienced the “pinnacle for any international cricketer”, Scotland are holding on to those memories to drive them forward.

“Going back a few years, there wasn't much experience in the side, but the main core of the group has stayed together,” said Coetzer. “We have come through the tournaments together, and that has put us in a position where there is a solid amount of experience in our group.

“Hopefully, that will hold us in good stead when we go into some of the games in crunch moments. How you manage the pressure situations and how you get through those is what will hopefully get you through to the World Cup.”