Joy awaits the Scots or Afghans

A WIN in their first World Cup campaign would be a fairytale for Afghanistan’s players.

A WIN in their first World Cup campaign would be a fairytale for Afghanistan's players, who have overcome decades of war at home to earn a place in one of the biggest sporting events on the planet.

After opening their campaign with a disappointing 105-run loss to Bangladesh in Canberra, the Afghanis are determined to do much better against Scotland in Dunedin today.

But they certainly will not get any sympathy from the Scots, who are yet to break through in three World Cups and have won just two of six games against Afghanistan.

One of those wins came in Abu Dhabi last month when seamer Josh Davey took a record 6-28 for Scotland as Afghanistan was routed for 63.

Freddie Coleman, who played in Scotland's 119-run loss to England in Christchurch on Monday, said the team was desperate to make the most of the opportunity.

"Playing a fellow associate nation is probably the biggest game for us and we'd like to get those two points on the board and get jumping up that table," Coleman said.

Davey has seven wickets from two games in the tournament, just four behind Black Caps seamer Tim Southee, who leads the standings.

Originally published as Joy awaits the Scots or Afghans