Shai Hope is in for the West Indies, and hope is about all they have right now! The keeper needs to produce a captain's performance here. Like Scotland, they must win all three games to have any chance of going through.

Brandon King is on strike, and he has just crunched Chris Sole through the covers. Regal.

The next is shorter and he uses the pace to crack through the air at midwicket, flying the the boundary. Five fours for the opener so far.

Five dots, one wide, a single. Decent stuff from Chris Sole. There would've been a four, but a fantastic dive from Safyaan Sharif stops the ball racing to the boundary.

Scotland have impressed with their fielding in this tournament.

Four great balls from Sole, but two slightly shorter that Brandon King sent all the way to the ropes. This is a run-scoring pitch, and the West Indies will punish you if you give them the option.

It's an expensive opening over, but there were three balls that King took a real risk with. Richie Berrington wanted early wickets. He might get them.

It's a sunny, if a little chilly, morning in Harare. It seemed like a good morning for a bat, but Richie Berrington won the toss and decided to have a bowl.

Chris Sole is good with the new ball, in fairness. Here he comes against Brandon King, the graceful West Indies opener.

It's a beauty! Moving in to out, King swings and misses! There's a hint of a knick but no appeal. What a start!

The game of the tournament so far involved the West Indies. They played the Netherlands on Monday and batted well, setting a target of 374 to chase. Almost unassailable.

And when the Dutch required 205 runs from the remaining 125 balls, the Windies were on course for a comfortable victory.

But, somehow, they got got 204. So... what happens in an ODI when it’s a draw after 50 overs?

Well, the game goes into the dramatically named Super Over - basically each team bats for an over and sees who has the most runs.

In this case, the Netherlands 30 - a record for a one-over eliminator. The West Indies scored 8 runs for a loss of two wickets in reply.

West Indian cricket has struggled of late, and it was only eight months ago that Scotland added to the misery.

In the 2022 T20 World Cup, the Scots bowled out today’s opposition for a measly 118. Mark Watt, Sayfaan Sharif and Michael Leask all featured with ball in hand during that famous win in Hobart.

Since then, new white-ball manager Daren Sammy hasn’t had the impact desired, and their woes have continued. They’ve been far from their best in Zimbabwe so far, with both bowlers and batsmen struggling to excel.

This is Scotland’s first ODI at the Harare Sports Club since a narrow five-run loss to the Indies in 2018 qualification. That day, they bowled them out for just 198 but fell short in a run chase that was impacted by the weather.

All reasons for optimism, if you’re a Scot.

Image source, SNS

Scotland: Matthew Cross (wk), Chris McBride, Brandon McMullen, George Munsey, Richie Berrington (c), Tomas Mackintosh, Michael Leask, Chris Greaves, Mark Watt, Safyaan Sharif, Chris Sole.

A big boost for Scotland, with the return of batsman George Munsey from illness. Safyaan Sharif also comes in, replacing Jack Jarvis and Alasdair Evans.

West Indies: Brandon King, Johnson Charles, Shamarh Brooks, Shai Hope (c & wk), Nicholas Pooran, Kyle Mayers, Kevin Sinclair, Jason Holder, Romario Shepherd, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph

Good morning! I believe it was Graham Gouldman of 10cc who sang “I don’t like cricket… I love it!”

I can only agree, Graham. Welcome to Scotland v West Indies in the Super Six stage of the 2023 World Cup qualifiers.

The long and short of it is this - Scotland pretty much need to win all three games to have a chance of qualifying for the World Cup.

And despite the differences in stature between these two sides, a win isn’t out of the question. We'll explain why before the first ball.

Team news shortly.