Watson downplays 'favourites' tag for WCQs

Ryan Watson, the Scotland captain, is confident of his side's chances at next month's World Cup Qualifiers (WCQs) but has said they are not the clear "favourites". Scotland were victorious in the WCQs held in Ireland four years ago, thus ensuring qualification for the 2007 World Cup in West Indies, but Watson felt Ireland were the frontrunners for the tournament in South Africa, which runs from April 1-19.

"Whether we start as favourites is probably debatable - Ireland and Kenya are both ranked above us in the world rankings," Watson said. "I know we won it last time but that was in familiar conditions for us. We are pretty realistic about our chances and although we are confident, I would put the tag of 'favourite' on to the Irish. They have had more success than we have recently in one-day cricket although we have had success against them in the past,."

"The best way of dealing with the pressure is to go out and enjoy it. Most of us are amateur cricketers so it's not our livelihood and that helps to reduce the pressure. We are very much looking forward to the tournament.

"Our preparations have all been indoor up to now because the weather in Scotland isn't brilliant. We had a three-day camp down in Loughborough which was fantastic and the guys are ready to get outdoors now. We are going to be in South Africa well in advance of the tournament so that should just cap off the preparations for us nicely."

Scotland played in the 1999 World Cup held in England and even made it to the inaugural World Twenty20 in South Africa in 2007. Watson, who was the captain during that tournament, said: "We are pretty confident and we are going out there to win it. We know the main prize at the end of the day is qualification for the World Cup but I think we'd like to go out there with the goal of repeating our success in 2005. And I think if we aim to win it or finish second or third, then we still have the prize of qualification.

Watson was also pleased with the developments surrounding the game in Scotland and believes the forward thinking augurs well for the future. A veteran of 27 ODIs, he is one of the three players who have been handed full-time contracts with many others having been retained on part-time commitments.

"I am one of three players to benefit from full-time contracts, which is the first time it's happened in Scotland," he said. "We have another 22 players on retainer payments as part-time elite players. We have been incorporated into the Scottish Institute of Sport and they come up with training methods and they help us on the physical side of things. In the past two years we've made a lot of progress in that area.

"We also have eight under-19 players who are doing a college course and playing cricket full-time so we've made some big strides in the past two years and qualification for the World Cup would help speed up that process as it gives us more financial backing to be progressive. That brings with it added pressure for us as we try to keep that momentum going but that is all part of it."

Scotland: Ryan Watson (capt), Gavin Hamilton, Kyle Coetzer, Neil McCallum, Navdeep Poonia, Qasim Sheikh, Colin Smith (wk), Craig Wright, Jan Stander, John Blain, Dewald Nel, Gordon Goudie, Calum MacLeod, Moneeb Iqbal, Majid Haq.