Craig Wright has always been one of Scottish cricket's most honest characters and candid analysts, on and off the field.

Back in the days when he was captaining the Saltires, he never minded the side being criticised if they had under-achieved as long as it didn't descend into personal abuse.

And now that he is in charge of his compatriots in a coaching capacity, as they strive to qualify for the 2015 World Cup, Wright remains a practical individual, who accepts that their recent results haven't been good enough.

None the less, the stakes for the Scots could hardly be higher, with only two spots up for grabs, following Ireland and Afghanistan's earlier entry to the globe's premier tournament.

At best, they can atone for a miserable period, which saw them fail to win a single match in last summer's YB40 competition, as to the prelude to crashing out of contention in the World T20 qualifier, which has led to the removal of Pete Steindl, although question marks remain over the fashion in which his exit was managed.

At worst, though, there is the fact that Scotland could lose their cherished ODI status if they fail to finish in the top four, which means there is absolutely no margin for error when they launch their campaign next week.

"We have good players, I am convinced of that, but it is all very well saying we have a good team on paper, it is about finding a winning formula and winning matches consistently," declared Wright, who will be working with the former England Ashes star, Paul Collingwood, in the Land of the Long White Cloud.

"That is what successful sides do. The challenge for us this month is to maintain our focus and employ a consistently strong mindset throughout the competition, which will give us the best chance of performing well, day in, day out.

"If we take things ball by ball, game by game, and remain focused and composed, I am confident that Scotland have a group of players who are talented enough to meet their objective of gaining World Cup qualification."

Wright appeared on the biggest stage in 2007 and there were many who believed he should have been in the mix in 1999. At his peak, he was part of a group, who not only enjoyed regular success over Ireland, but who came within a whisker of defeating Pakistan in 2003.

However, the situation has deteriorated in the latter half of the last decade and Wright has no illusions about the battle confronting his troops.

"As we saw in the T20 qualifiers, there are many talented players and teams in the Associate ranks, so we will have to play good cricket to secure the points from any of the fixtures during the event," he stated.

"With Ireland and Afghanistan already qualified, it would be great for European cricket if ourselves and the Netherlands could also make it.

"But Nepal, Hong Kong and the UAE will be determined to follow up their good showings in the World T20. On top of that, we know Canada, Kenya, Namibia and Papua New Guinea are good teams, so the competition for the top two sides will be fierce.

"Our objective is to impose our brand of cricket on the opposition, start the tournament better than we did in the T20s [where they lost three of their first four games] and achieve a consistency of performance which enables us to achieve the necessary results."

The former Saltires maestro recognises that there have been problems in and around the Scottish ranks of late. One or two of the leading lights, such as Richie Berrington, would clearly have benefited from moving South and seeking English county contracts, as most of their Irish counterparts have done, and it is difficult to escape the feeling that Cricket Scotland committed a major tactical error by handing out so many professional contracts without having anything resembling a pro structure to test the mettle of the elite personnel.

Yet, for the moment at least, on the basis that they need to be in these tournaments, recriminations and debates are best left on the back burner.

"There is no doubt it is important that Scotland qualifies for the World Cup, because it is the stage on which the players want to perform to have a chance to show their abilities at world level," said Wright.

"Qualification also has significant financial benefits for the sport, as well as raising its profile in Scotland, which will hopefully increase the chances of more youngsters taking up cricket. We were all disappointed to miss out on the T20 World Cup, but the 50-over qualifiers coming round so quickly gives the players the opportunity to put that behind them immediately."

We will discover in the next few weeks whether the Scots are still in touch with the leading Associate countries or are gradually slip sliding away on a road to nowhere. One has to hope, for the myriad aficionados of the sport north of the Border, that this campaign has the Wright outcome.