RAINEY AND SCOTS READY FOR LIFT OFF AT EMERGING NATIONS TROPHY

Hannah Rainey believes Scotland's best is yet to come in Thailand, as they prepare to begin their ICC Emerging Nations Trophy campaign.

 

The Scots face Uganda (0645 UK) on Thursday morning in the first of seven T20i matches against the leading Associate Nations. Scotland head into the Emerging Nations Trophy with confidence high after winning the Quad Cup warmup series, but Rainey feels the team is yet to hit its peak on the pitch.

 

"It's great to have started well, with some added tournament pressure, which is good practice for us given what's to come," said Rainey.

 

"We're now pretty clear in how we want to play as a team, and over the last eighteen months we've progressed a lot, but we think we're capable of a lot more. There's been a lot of growth and so many of the squad are playing professionally in England, so it just adds to the experience across the team."

 

The pace bowler picked up three wickets across her two Quad Cup appearances against Thailand and Namibia, but the squad depth will be tested with seven matches to come in eleven days in the Emerging Nations Trophy.

 

"i've enjoyed bowling on the wickets here, as I think there's a bit of bounce in them. Sometimes it has skidded a bit, but my height allows me to get a bit of bounce which has been helpful.

 

'We're a really strong seam bowling unit, so it drives everyone to perform which is a good challenge and creates a healthy environment to be in. It's a demanding schedule, even more so with the heat and humidity, so it'll be a real team effort across the tournament."

 

 

The Scots are now set on winning a second trophy of this tour, but the ICC Emerging Nations Trophy also acts as a useful precursor to the ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier in January, where the stakes will be even higher.

 

"This tournament and the World Cup Qualifier are slightly different formats to what we've been used to in the past," said Rainey. "We've talked about performing as consistently as possible here, because the team who wins the most matches overall will be victorious. It'll be similar at the Qualifier, as points will be carried through to the second stage, so we need to know how gain consistency. 

 

"We always want to win every game, and winning is a great habit, but we also do need to pace ourselves as it's a long tournament. Ultimately, we want to play as much as we can - on this tour we're playing our first international T20 cricket for a year, so everyone is champing at the bit to get out and play as much as possible."