Well unfortunately it was not to be, Scotland have come up short in their quest to gain some momentum going into the all-important ODI's in Sharjah when they were beaten twice by Afghanistan in the 2 x T20 fixtures.  As mentioned in my previous blogs Scotland welcomed a few new players into the fold and seem to have unearthed a gem in Matt Machan - he was top scorer in both games and at very decent strike rate in both innings and also might be able to fill the gap of that second spinner role which I felt was going to be our Achilles heel. However Mr Machan aside I can't help but feel Scotland have missed a trick here by failing to put a complete game together. In the 1st game they seemed to bowl and field very well but then came up short in the batting front, in the second game they got themselves into a very good position to post a challenging score but unfortunately their bowling and fielding then let them down particularly in the 1st 6 overs. 

What was noticeable in both games was Scotland's inability to find the boundary more often - particularly in overs 14 - 20 - this is a role that Jan Stander and Neil McCallum used to fill successfully and I can't help but feel that they need to develop a couple of good late innings finishers / hitters. If you look at all the successful T20's teams they all have one and they cost the most money in IPL Auctions - Kieron Pollard springs to mind ;

Moving forward though they are going into the most important phase of the tour with 2 x ODI's against the Afghans - if Scotland win both they really do put themselves in prime position to qualify for the next World Cup, if they lose both they drop down back into the pack and will have to win games against Ireland in September to qualify. Neil Carter has been left out of the ODI squad as they had to name 14 prior to seeing Neil in action - it's a blow as I think the variety he offers as left arm over and his pace could have troubled the Afghans, however Scotland have plenty of options in the seam bowling front. The batters are the key in this series and I think if we can bat 1st and post a couple of scores of 250 plus then our bowlers will see the job through. We need the likes of Coetzer, Berrington or Machan to get scores of 80 plus and then be supported by the others.
 
This task will be made trickier by the return of Hamid Hassan who always seems to take early wickets with the new ball and late wickets with the reverse swinging ball - see him go wicketless and we post 250 +  and win….

These could be the 2 most important fixtures Scotland play this year … find away Scotland.