Former coach Tony Judd has backed the Scotland team to match his triumphant Intercontinental Cup winners of 2004.

The Scots last night flew to Dubai, where they face Afghanistan in the final next week.

Judd, now assistant to coach Pete Steindl, believes they can reclaim the silverware they last won against Canada in Sharjah six years ago. He said: “I will always have fond memories of winning the first Intercontinental Cup.

“We had a group of players who were very experienced and at the top of their game.

“The side has been rebuilt since then and the balance of this team is different.”

Judd added: “But they have the ability and the hunger to win tournaments and, hopefully, they will against Afghanistan.”

Afghanistan were the only team to beat Scotland during the qualifying stages.

Judd, also video analyst for the team, has pin-pointed swing bowler Hamid Hassan, who took 11 wickets in the match at Ayr in August, as a potential match-winner and said: “Hamid was able to reverse swing the ball in a way our players hadn’t seen before.

“We have worked hard in the nets on methods of counteracting the threat he poses.”

Head coach Steindl insists his team will start as the underdogs, but said: “The strength of our squad is we are a unit.

“Losing to Afghanistan was our only blip in the qualifying stages and they came through unbeaten, so they deserve to be favourites.

“But we are maturing as a team all the time and how quickly our players adjust to the conditions in Dubai will be key.

“We believe we can win.”

Scotland’s place in their second cup final was only confirmed when Zimbabwe forfeited the points from the decisive qualifying match between the two countries.

Steindl’s side will play a series of warm-up matches before facing Afghanistan at the Dubai International Stadium from December 2 to 6.

SQUAD — G. Drummond capt, F. Watts, P. Mommsen, K. Coetzer, R. Berrington, N. McCallum, M. Haq, S. Smith, M. Parker, G. Goudie, T. Lyons, R. Flannigan, G. Maiden, S. Chalmers.