Scotland ready for 'one more important step' towards World Cup qualification

Scotland have beaten Test nations Zimbabwe, West Indies and Ireland at the qualifier event

Captain Richie Berrington says it would be "extremely special" to lead Scotland to the World Cup.

Scotland will book a place in India if they beat Netherlands on Thursday.

The Dutch need to win by a big margin to leapfrog the Scots on net run rate in their final Super Six meeting at the qualifier in Zimbabwe.

"We are a step closer but we have got one more important step to take," said Berrington after five wins from six at the tournament.

Those include victories against Test nations Zimbabwe, West Indies and Ireland.

"To come here, with the number of full member teams in this tournament, to find a way to be in the top two and get through to a World Cup in India would be extremely special," said Berrington.

"It is a great honour to captain your country, especially to do it with this group.

'"There is no better reward than playing at a World Cup, so we are certainly determined to do everything we can to try and achieve that."

• Scotland end Zimbabwe's World Cup hopes

Unbeaten Sri Lanka have wrapped up top spot in the 10-nation event, leaving Scotland and Netherlands the surprise teams fighting it out for the one remaining place in India.

While a win guarantees a fourth World Cup appearance for Scotland, a narrow defeat would also be enough.

"I am sure there will be some chat around that sort of stuff but we are only thinking about winning the game and what we need to do to do that," said Berrington.

"There are a number of us in this squad who have been in these big tournaments before. We know the importance of every game. The Netherlands have had some big wins in this tournament as well, they are a good team, so we certainly respect them.

"We can obviously take huge confidence from wins against the West Indies and Zimbabwe, but we know we are going to have to be at our best again."

The Dutch have posted three scores over 300 in Zimbabwe to Scotland's one, but the Scottish bowlers have been in fine form.

Chris Greaves is third on the most wickets list for the competition with 13, Brandon McMullen has 12, and Chris Sole has taken 11.

Berrington, who has hit 227 runs from six innings in Zimbabwe, explained "it has been a long journey to get to this point".

He said: "This process started a long time ago, way back when the World Cricket league 2 started off. We have had a number of changes in the squad with some senior players retiring, we have had young guys coming in to a tournament like this for the first time.

"As a team we are always looking to keep improving, we speak a lot about raising the bar. We want to be playing against the best teams in the world."