Ambitious Iain Wardlaw is aiming to become one of the stars of the World Cup - just like his mentor John Blain.

The two Scottish fast bowlers worked together at Yorkshire where Blain was a coach and Wardlaw a promising paceman.

Now Wardlaw has set his sights on emulating the heroics Blain produced at the 1999 World Cup.

The Scots were making their first appearance on the global stage and Blain, then just a teenager, boasted the best strike-rate of any bowler at the tournament.

Wardlaw said: “I want to put myself in with a chance of being the leading wicket-taker in the group stages.

“I think bowling with the new ball and again at the death it gives me the best opportunity to do that.

“I'm used as a strike bowler predominantly so I'll look to take as many wickets as I can.

“I was speaking to Blainy just before we left for the World Cup. He was one of the factors that led to me signing for Yorkshire and I learned a lot from him all the way through my time at Headingley.

“It's fantastic what he achieved in 1999 and shows what can be done. After him having the best strike-rate it would be a lovely double if I can be the leading wicket-taker at this tournament.”

Wardlaw prepared for what he hopes will be a giant-killing campaign by claiming one of the biggest scalps of his career when he dismissed Chris Gayle as Scotland just failed to upset the West Indies in their warm-up match in Sydney on Thursday.

The squad have since travelled to Dunedin where they will take on co-hosts New Zealand in their first Pool A fixture on Tuesday.

It is a daunting task against one of the tournament favourites who yesterday opened with a thumping win over Sri Lanka but the Scots have taken heart from their midweek thrashing of Ireland and their narrow 3-run defeat to the Windies.

Coach Grant Bradbrn said: “The lads showed a lot of courage, commitment and skill against the West Indies.

“We are aiming to reach new heights during the tournament and achieve things no Scottish team has ever done before.”

Scotland have lost all eight matches in the previous two World Cups in which they competed but have an outstanding chance of breaking their duck against fellow Associate side Afghanistan.

They may also be targeting Bangladesh who lost a warm-up game to the same Ireland side so comprehensively beaten by the Scots.

However, Bradburn is not ruling out a shock against one of the four powerhouses in Pool A - New Zealand, England, Sri Lanka and Australia.

He added: “We want to take down a top nation and I believe this group of players is capable of doing that.”