Place in final still up for grabs as UAE hosts Scotland at Sharjah

As it gets ready to face the United Arab Emirates in Sharjah tomorrow (Thursday), those involved in cricket in Scotland know that these are exciting times. The national side has embarked on perhaps its busiest and highest profile period in the long history of the game there.

Having played an ODI series in Bangladesh at the tail-end of last year, the squad is preparing for an ODI tri-series in Mombasa, the inaugural ICC World Cricket League in Nairobi, the ICC Cricket World Cup in the West Indies and then the ECB One-Day Trophy against top English county opposition after that.

But now it has its mind on the longer form of the game as it prepares for a crucial four-day ICC Intercontinental Cup match at Sharjah Stadium. Victory for Craig Wright's team will secure Scotland's place in the final of this competition, which it won in 2004.

But there is plenty at stake from UAE's point of view, too. Despite losing outright to Namibia in Windhoek back in December, captain Arshad Ali knows that a win in Sharjah will put his side right back in contention, teeing up a winner-take-all clash with Ireland in Abu Dhabi on 10 February.

"We have a lot to play for in this match," said Arshad. "Scotland is a very good team with plenty of experience but we will give it our very best over the next few days."

UAE has an interesting mix of youth and experience. Apart from 30-year-old batsman Arshad, the Emirates will be able to call upon the vast experience of Khuram Khan, left-handed wicketkeeper-batsman Gayan Silva (who will celebrate his 33rd birthday on the fourth day of this match) and other older heads, while also welcoming some youngsters into the fray, such as 19-year-olds Rameez Shahzad and Qasim Zubair.

With all the high level cricket his team is playing, Scotland coach Peter Drinnen is delighted with the progress being made in the camp and is in buoyant mood.

"We certainly aim to win this match," said Drinnen. "I feel we have made good improvements recently and there is a lot of confidence. Our bowlers are hitting the right areas, our batsmen know what to do and are taking responsibility, and we also have a very good fielding side," he said.

"This is the longest tour ever taken by a Scotland side and it is great to get the chance to play a consistently high quality of matches while also spending a long time together. We are hoping that it shows here over the next few days."

The Scots will have happy memories of Sharjah. It is where they won the final of the ICC Intercontinental Cup in 2004, beating Canada by an innings and 84 runs.

One of the Scotland players, Dougie Brown, will also remember Sharjah fondly for other reasons - it is where he helped England win the CBFS Champions Trophy in 1997. Indeed, in a match against the West Indies during that tournament Brown took two wickets - that of Philo Wallace and Brian Lara - in the first over of the game.

No doubt he will be keen to replicate some of that form on his return to Sharjah Stadium.

Apart from Scotland and UAE, the other sides in Group A are Namibia and defending champions Ireland. If the Scots win, they are through to the final but if they fail, it will open the door for Ireland to retain its title, setting up a group decider in Abu Dhabi next month.

Group B is made up of Bermuda, Canada, Kenya and the Netherlands with all matches now having been played. Canada won the group having beaten Bermuda and Kenya and although it lost to the Netherlands, it had done enough to qualify for the final.

The new format of the ICC Intercontinental Cup means sides will play a minimum of three four-day matches in this tournament, increasing to seven four-day matches in 2007 and 2008 when it is hoped the event will be a full round-robin format.

That compares to a minimum of just two three-day matches per year under the previous structure which, until the semi-finals, was regionally based rather than global.

The ICC Intercontinental Cup began in 2004 to give the leading players from Associate sides the chance to improve by exposing them to a longer form of the game.

UAE (from): Arshad Ali (captain), Khuram Khan, Saqib Ali, Kashif Khan, Naeemuddin Aslam, Rameez Shahzad, Gayan Silva, Ali Asad Abbas, Shadeep Silva, Awais Aftab, Qasim Zubair, Ahmed Nadeem, Mohammed Iqbal, Ahmed Raza.

Scotland (from): Craig Wright (captain), John Blain, Dougie Brown, Gavin Hamilton, Majid Haq, Paul Hoffmann, Dougie Lockhart, Ross Lyons, Neil McCallum, Dewald Nel, Glenn Rogers, Colin Smith, Ryan Watson, Fraser Watts.

Umpires: Ian Gould (Emirates International Panel of ICC Umpires) and Buddhi Pradhan (ICC Associates and Affiliates International Umpires Panel).

For more information on the ICC Intercontinental Cup as well as the latest group tables, go to