Roddy Smith, Cricket Scotland's chief executive, has admitted that the pressure is on the national team to qualify for two World Cups.
The sport in this country stands to miss out on a $2.25m windfall if Pete Steindl's side are unable to recover from last week's humblings at the hands of Ireland.
Their next competitive action comes at the World T20 qualifying tournament in the United Arab Emirates in November, before they then head straight to New Zealand where the final two places at the 2015 50-over World Cup will be at stake.
While Smith remains upbeat about the future health of Scottish cricket, he admits that it is time to deliver. "This year is all about qualifying for the T20 and 50-over World Cups," he said. "That is how the national team will be judged. "I am still firmly of the belief that we are in the top four among the Associate countries but we have to prove it."
Steindl and his squad have come under increasing pressure after a summer in which they did not record a single win in the Yorkshire Bank 40 Trophy, the first time in more than a decade that they had failed to secure a victory over county opposition. While they whitewashed Kenya in three formats of the game at Mannofield in June, they were brought crashing back to earth when Ireland ended their hopes of qualifying automatically for the World Cup with two one-day wins in Belfast, before an embarrassingly easy Intercontinental Cup victory in Dublin.
"It's been a mixed year," admitted Smith. "But just because the national team lost three games to Ireland, it doesn't mean everything is suddenly rotten. We blooded a lot of young guys in that competition and had no overseas player for most games.
"The under-19s have qualified for their second World Cup in a row and our youth structure is very good. I'm very optimistic about the medium to long-term future."
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