ICC announces squads for Ireland-Scotland fixtures

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has today announced the squads for the Ireland-Scotland fixtures of the seventh and final round of the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League (WCL) Championship and the ICC Intercontinental Cup 2011-2013.

Fourth-placed Scotland will travel to Belfast for two critical WCL Championship ODIs at Stormont, to be played on 6 and 8 September. Currently sitting behind Netherlands and Afghanistan on net run rate (15 points each), and UAE only one point behind, Scotland will require two wins to keep its hopes of direct qualification to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 alive.

The top two sides from the WCL Championship qualify automatically for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, while the bottom six teams will receive a second chance to progress at next year's ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier in New Zealand, where they will compete alongside Hong Kong, Nepal, Papua New Guinea and Uganda for the final two spots in the ICC's flagship 50-over event.

Ireland has already won the WCL Championship to become the first Associate or Affiliate side to qualify for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. The WCL Championship trophy will therefore be presented to Ireland captain William Porterfield and his team following the second ODI, on 8 September.

While Ireland has already won the competition, the race for the crucial second position may come down to net run rate, and, as a result, Scotland will be aiming for decisive victories over the top-ranked side.

Scotland and Ireland will further lock horns in the four-day, first-class Intercontinental Cup fixture from 11-14 September at Clontarf, Dublin. Ireland, which won the event in 2005, 2006-2007 and 2007-2008, has already qualified for the final, and currently lead its closest rival and defending champion Afghanistan by 12 points, with Scotland a further 18 points back.

Scotland will need an outright win to have any chance of taking second place and knocking Afghanistan out of the final.

Pepsi ICC WCL Championship squads

Ireland (from) - William Porterfield (captain), George Dockrell, Trent Johnston, Edmund Joyce, John Mooney, Timothy Murtagh, Kevin O'Brien, Niall O'Brien, Edward Richardson, Max Sorensen, Paul Stirling, Andrew White and Gary Wilson

Scotland (from) - Kyle Coetzer (captain), Richard Berrington, Frederick Coleman, Gordon Drummond, Hamish Gardiner, Gordon Goudie, Majid Haq, Matthew Machan, Callum Macleod, Preston Mommsen, David Murphy, Safyaan Sharif, Robert Taylor and Iain Wardlaw