It’’s a bumper week of World Cup qualifying events ahead, with matches taking place as part of qualification for the 2023 Men’s ODI World Cup, the 2022 Men’s T20 World Cup and the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup.

One of two matches making up part of qualifying for the 2023 Men’s ODI World Cup today was the CWC League 2 encounter between Scotland and Namibia at Titwood in Glasgow, where Namibian captain Gerhard Erasmus won the toss and asked the home side to bat first.

Scotland started with Kyle Coetzer and Matthew Cross putting on 58 before the former was out for 29. Cross was out three overs later for 26 and new captain Richie Berrington was out for just one soon afterwards. Calum MacLeod and George Munsey then put on 94 for the fourth wicket to take the score from 74-3 to 168-4.

That partnership ended when MacLeod was dismissed for 50 by Erasmus, whilst Munsey batted out the rest of the innings, finishing unbeaten on 71 off what for him was a rather sedate 108 balls. Erasmus was the pick of Namibia’s bowlers, taking 3-56 as Scotland scored 258-6, their total given a boost by 35 extras conceded by Namibia.

Namibia’s reply started badly with Zane Green Divan La Cock and Gerhard Erasmus all out cheaply as they quickly found themselves on 8-3. Lo-handre Louwrens and Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton set about rebuilding the innings with a partnership of 96 for the fourth wicket.

Loftie-Eaton was the fourth man out having scored 50, with Louwrens falling short of the half-century mark with a score of 47. Both were dismissed by Safyaan Sharif and he also picked up the key wicket of JJ Smit who scored 28. He finished with figures of 5-35, his second five wicket haul in ODIs, as Namibia were bowled out for 181, losing by 77 runs.

This leg of CWC League 2 continues tomorrow with Namibia playing Nepal in Ayr. The series then returns to Titwood on Wednesday for Scotland’s next match, which will also be against Nepal.