Scotland beat Netherlands to qualify for U19 Men's Cricket World Cup 2026

New Delhi [India], August 7 (ANI): The Scotland cricket team qualified for the International Cricket Council (ICC) U19 Men's World Cup 2026, defeating the Netherlands by 20 runs in the last Qualifier game, according to the ICC.

Remaining unbeaten in the Europe Qualifiers, the hosts booked their tickets to Zimbabwe and Namibia for the main event early next year.

Chasing 238 for a World Cup spot, Netherlands were well-placed at 108/3 despite losing two early wickets to Finlay Jones (4/41), who was the main architect of the Scotland win.

Off-spinner Manu Saraswat (3/43) arrested the runflow of the visitors, and Ollie Jones removed the crucial wicket of Tom De Leede (67), who was threatening to run away with the match.

Fittingly, Jones grabbed the final Dutch wicket as they were bowled out for 217, which enabled the qualification of Scotland.

Speaking about the World Cup qualification, captain Thomas Knight expressed his relief and happiness after having edged past the Netherlands in a close encounter.

"Unbelievable! Could not be happier and especially doing it in that manner, winning a tight one there at the end. This whole week has been building upto the one game today, there has been a lot of learning we have taken from game one against Sweden all the way through to now," he said as quoted by ICC.

Man of the moment Jones felt like it was a dream coming true to be a part of the World Cup.

"When you start playing cricket, though you always dream of playing the World Cup, you never think that it is actually going to become a realisation. But now we have a World Cup in January, and it is something to look forward to. It has been a journey and it has all paid off," he said.

Scotland remained unbeaten in the tournament and will head to the main event set to be held in January next year in Zimbabwe and Namibia. (ANI)

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