Safyaan retains his place in Scotland squad

The tour will provide some valuable preparation for the ICC World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe which will be held in March.

Kyle Coetzer will again lead the side after a bumper year with the bat.

Scotland’s captain scored the highest number of runs ever in 2017 by a Scotland player in a calendar year, and in fewer innings than the next seven best totals.

The tour will consist of two One Day International matches against Ireland (January 16 and 18) and UAE (January 21 and 23) at the ICC Academy in Dubai.

Scotland coach Grant Bradburn said on the announcement, “We are very grateful to have the opportunity to play this Tri Series in Dubai against two quality sides as an excellent build up to the WC Qualifier in Zimbabwe in March 2018.

“During this coming series, we will be developing our ability to win, with a variety of line ups, where we will challenge some players to take on subtly different roles.

“In Associate cricket we get very few opportunities to provide players game time in a variety of positions – simply because every series has so much on it and we get precious little match time leading in.

“This Dubai series is no different in terms of importance, but we have full confidence in our players to take on different roles.

“We must continually improve and give players the exposure to grow.”