Scots hungry for win over Irish

Lloyds TSB Tri-Series: Scotland v Ireland
Date: Wed 2 July Start: 1045 BST Venue: Mannofield, Aberdeen
Coverage: Full commentary on BBC Radio Scotland MW and on BBC Sport website with updates on BBC Radio Ulster

By Mark Woods

Scotland must do without the experienced Craig Wright

Scotland bowler Gordon Goudie claims that defeating Ireland at Mannofield is a greater priority for the Saltires than pulling off an upset victory over New Zealand 24 hours later.

The Scots have been overshadowed by their traditional rivals' success over the past 18 months at home and abroad.

And Goudie admitted: "We watched them beat Pakistan and Bangladesh at the World Cup, which put them ahead of us. So it would be nice to beat them and bring us up a peg or two."

Scotland will be without the injured Craig Wright, with Gordon Drummond called up in his place.

Despite losing their most-capped player, the hosts will be heavily fancied to take advantage of Irish inexperience and land a psychological blow in the first of at least three meetings between the countries this summer.

"With respect to New Zealand on Thursday, this is the one where we want to perform," outlines Goudie, who remains a target for Gloucestershire.

"No-one really expects us to do anything against New Zealand anyway, whereas the Irish are the side we measure ourselves against most.

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"It seems that over the last couple of years, they've moved ahead of us, both in the one-day game and in the Inter-Continental Cup, so we want to turn that around."

However, maintaining that superiority is an ambition for Ireland captain Kyle McCallan, especially with one eye on the teams' next meeting in the group stages of August's World Twenty20 qualifiers.

"We play each other so often and we all know each other well, but that probably makes us want to beat each other more," McCallan said.

The visitors will be without Alex Cusack, who broke a finger in Sunday's win over Bangladesh A, with Ryan Haire recruited as a replacement.

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Scotland (from): Watson (captain), Watts, Hamilton, McCallum, Smith, Berrington, Nel, Drummond, Blain, Goudie, Haq, Rogers, Sheikh

Ireland (from): McCallan (captain), Botha, Connell, Haire, Eaglestone, Fourie, Kidd, Dougherty, Poynter, Stirling, Strydom, White, Wilson