Cricket World Cup: Love's labours need reward

SCOTLAND'S WORLD Cup roadshow comes to an end in Edinburgh today with many lessons learned but, so far, no victory to show for their efforts.

Jim Love, their coach, is unlikely to see his side break their duck against New Zealand - but is anxious that there is no repeat of the humiliation they suffered at the hands of the West Indies, when they were bowled out for 68.

"That defeat and the one by Bangladesh were probably the two worst days I have had in the job," said Love, who took the bold step of dropping both his first-choice openers - Bruce Patterson and Iain Philip - for that West Indies match.

"We have said all along that there was a possibility of getting hammered by someone but we have to be strong enough to fight our way back from that," he said. "New Zealand are a useful side and have already beaten Australia but they won't pose us the same kind of problems the West Indies did."

In Gavin Hamilton, Scotland at least have one player who has made his mark in the competition, but the Yorkshire all-rounder may be required by England later this summer and his appearances for the Scots could be at an end. So Love now has to look to the next generation of Scottish players to take his country forward.

"After this competition, we have to sit down and have a re-think about how we bring young players through in the future," Love said. "We spoke about what happened against the West Indies and everyone was fairly positive but we need to move onto the next stage now, and that transition won't be easy."

Pakistan have no such worries ahead of their match against Bangladesh at Northampton, having recorded four wins out of four to head Group B. Wasim Akram even has the luxury of being able to rest some of his key men, which could mean a recall for Waqar Younis and Mushtaq Ahmed. "Waqar Younis and Mushtaq Ahmed have been amazing," Wasim said. "It is very difficult for me as a captain to leave these two great players out but I would like to thank them for backing the team up."

It would be a surprise if Pakistan failed to beat Bangladesh, but South Africa's defeat against Zimbabwe should serve as a cautionary note.