Cup committee confirms Scots' final place

SCOTLAND have been handed a passport to the final of the Intercontinental Cup after being awarded all 20 points from their doomed clash with Zimbabwe.

The surprise decision, made by the tournament technical committee, means the Scots are guaranteed a place in the final against Afghanistan in Dubai. They could even go through as group winners, meaning they would need only to draw the final to win the trophy for the first time since 2004.

Scotland had refused to play against Zimbabwe in Harare on Government advice which says that sporting tours by British teams send a positive signal for a regime that requires significant political reform.

It is understood that Zimbabwe decided to forfeit the match to prevent their political situation from obstructing the development of cricket's smaller nations.

Roddy Smith, Cricket Scotland's chief executive, said: "It is a satisfactory outcome to what has been a very difficult situation for ourselves, Zimbabwe and the ICC.

"We would rather have had the opportunity to play against Zimbabwe and we do not celebrate the fact that they have forfeited the match. However, we have said all along that we wanted our players to get the opportunity to compete for the I-Cup and now they will get that chance.

"I am delighted for the guys."

Smith denied that Scotland's success in reaching the final has been undermined by Zimbabwe's forfeiture and insisted the relationship between the two nations has not been damaged.

The match, originally due to take place in a neutral African country, was later changed to Harare at Zimbabwe's request.

Scotland initially agreed to the switch but were forced to perform a u-turn on government advice.

Smith added: "If you take Zimbabwe's results out of the equation we would have been in the top two in any case.

"We have never had any issue with Zimbabwe Cricket and we would have no hesitation in travelling there once the UK government's stance has changed."

Dave Richardson, chairman of the ICC's event technical committee, said: "We did everything possible to facilitate an agreement between the two countries and would have been happy for the game to take place anywhere in the world.

"But the two sides could not agree and it is important for the integrity of the competition that these circumstances are not be allowed to happen again."