Scotland national cricket team

Scotland
Cricket Scotland Logo
ICC membership granted	1994
ICC member status	Associate member with ODI status
ICC development region	Europe
World Cricket League division	One
European Cricket Championship division	One
Captain	Gordon Drummond
Coach	Peter Steindl
First recorded match	7 May 1849 v All England XI at Edinburgh
One Day Internationals
ODI matches played	49
ODI wins/losses	14/32 (3 NR)
First class cricket
First class matches played	175
First class wins/losses	27/62
List A cricket
List A matches played	217
List A wins/losses	39/165
ICC World Cup Qualifier
Appearances	4 (First in 1997)
Best result	Winners, 2005
As of 14 July 2007

The Scotland national cricket team represents Scotland in the game of cricket. They compete in the Clydesdale Bank 40 as the Scottish Saltires. The Scottish Saltires play their home matches at The Grange, Edinburgh (and occasionally at Titwood in Glasgow, in the past having been Hamilton Crescent).

They were elected to associate membership of the International Cricket Council in 1994^[1] after having severed their cricketing links with the England cricket team two years earlier. This allowed them to qualify for the Cricket World Cup in 1999 but they lost all their five matches.^[2] Furthermore, the team were unable to qualify in 2003.^[3]

In 2004 the Scotland cricket team competed in the inaugural ICC Intercontinental Cup. They first played Ireland and the Netherlands, and then on the back of those results progressed to the semi-finals in Sharjah. They overcame Kenya in the semi-finals, and then won the Cup by beating Canada in the final.^[4] They also competed in that tournament in 2005, but failed to progress past the first round.^[5] By qualifying for the semi-finals of the 2005 ICC Trophy on 7 July 2005 they have gained One Day International status from 1 January 2006 to the next ICC World Cup Qualifier in 2009.^[6] Scotland played their first One Day International outside of World Cups against Pakistan in June 2006, with the European Championship matches against Ireland and the Netherlands during August also being classed as full One Day International games.^[7]

The current captain of the side is Gavin Hamilton, who succeeded Ryan Watson and has held the role since May 2009.^[8] The coach is currently Australian Peter Steindl, succeeding ^[9] Peter Drinnen, who was forced out of the job in somewhat controversial circumstances.^[10]

History

Before ICC Membership

The first recorded cricket match in Scotland took place in Alloa in 1785.^[11] It would be another 80 years however, before Scotland played their first full match, against Surrey in 1865, where they won by 172 runs.^[12]

The first Scottish Cricket Union was formed in 1879, and the national team beat Australia by 7 wickets three years later. The cricket union became defunct in 1883, and Grange CC took over the administration of the game until 1909. The first match against Ireland took place in Dublin in 1888, with the Irish emerging victorious. They also played South Africa, the West Indies, an all-Indian team, and New Zealand before the start of World War II.^[12]

1948 saw Australia visit Scotland for two games at the end of their tour of England. These games, both of which were won by the Australians, were to be the last international games for the legendary Don Bradman.^[12] The Don signed off in typical style, making a fine unbeaten 123 in the innings victory.^[13]

Scotland first competed in English domestic cricket in 1980, when they competed in the Benson & Hedges Cup for the first time. 3 years later, they took part in the Nat West trophy. Their first B & H win would come against Lancashire in 1986.^[12]

Notable Scottish cricketers

The most famous cricketers to have come from Scotland are probably the former England captain, Mike Denness, Warwickshire all-rounder Dougie Brown, and Former England Test Player Gavin Hamilton. Another great Scottish Cricketer was B.R. (Lager) Hardie, who was a major contributor to the successful Essex side of the 70's and 80's. Possibly one of the best spinners and certainly a respected journalist was the aptly named Ian Peebles, [1] who was one of the cricketers of the year in 1931 alongside Donald Bradman.

The most infamous Cricketer, a man who was vilified in Australia, was a Scot, Douglas Jardine, father to and inventor of "Body Theory", which is well documented under "Bodyline". Jardine was born in British India, and died in Switzerland, spending most of his life in England. However, his parents were Scottish, and gave his own children Scottish names.

ICC Membership

In 1992 Scotland severed their ties with the TCCB, and England, and gained associate membership of the ICC in their own right in 1994.^[1] They competed in the ICC Trophy for the first time in 1997, finishing third^[12] and qualifying for the 1999 World Cup, where they lost all their games.^[2] The 2001 ICC Trophy saw them finish 4th, losing a play-off game to Canada,^[14] but they won the 2005 tournament, beating long-time rivals Ireland in the final. 2004 saw Scotland first confirm themselves as one of the leading associate nations by winning the inaugural Intercontinental Cup.^[12] They didn't progress beyond the first round in the 2005 tournament, however.^[5]

Recent past

2006

Scotland's leading ODI run scorer Ryan Watson plays through backward point for a boundary against India at Glasgow's Titwood ground, 16th August 2007

March 2006 saw Scotland embark on a pre-season tour to Barbados. They performed with some credit, although they only won one of their 6 games, against a Barbados XI.^[15] They owed much of their success to Dougie Brown, who re-qualified to represent Scotland internationally in 2004. They competed in the C & G Trophy in English domestic cricket in the early part of the 2006 English cricket season. They performed better than expected, winning three of their nine games, and finishing eighth in the Northern conference.^[16]

In June, they played their first ODI since the 1999 World Cup when they took on Pakistan in Edinburgh.^[7] Without key players Dougie Brown and Navdeep Poonia, they lost by five wickets.^[17] They finally got their first ODI win in the European Championships in August with a win over the Netherlands in a rain-shortened game.^[18] They again missed key players for some games in this tournament though, and thanks to their loss against Ireland, finished second in the tournament.^[19]

Throughout 2006 and into the early part of 2007, Scotland participated in the Intercontinental Cup. In May, they beat Namibia, and drew against Ireland in August. They also drew against the UAE in January 2007 and did not reach the final.^[20] In late 2006, they travelled to Bangladesh for their first ODI series outside the UK, losing both matches against Bangladesh.^[12]

2007

In January 2007, after the Intercontinental Cup match against the UAE in Sharjah, they travelled to Kenya, first playing in a tri-series against Canada and Kenya in Mombasa, which they finished second in.^[21] This was followed by Division One of the World Cricket League in Nairobi, where Scotland finished as runners up.^[22]

They then travelled to the West Indies for their second World Cup. They again lost all their games and failed to progress beyond the first round.^[23] Back in the UK, they competed in the Friends Provident Trophy, their only win coming against Lancashire.^[24] They also drew an Intercontinental Cup match against the UAE^[25] and an ODI against Pakistan in July was washed out.^[26]

In July, Scotland took part in a quadrangular series in Ireland against the hosts, the Netherlands and the West Indies. However, the endeavour was not a success. They lost their matches against Ireland and the West Indies with the match against the Netherlands being abandoned due to rain.

At the beginning of August, Scotland were on Intercontinental Cup duty as they won against the Netherlands by an innings and 59 runs. They then drew with Ireland in a rain affected match, only gaining 3 points however after a poor 1st innings display. India were Scotland's next ODI opponents in mid-August, which was shown live on BBC Scotland from Titwood, Glasgow. The match was reduced slightly to 46 overs after a couple of brief showers, but India won by 7 wickets.

Having reached the final of the World Cricket League earlier in the year, Scotland qualified to play in the Twenty20 World Championship held in South Africa. They lost by 51 runs to Pakistan in their first game, and did not get a chance to play their other Group D opponents India, as the game was washed out without a ball being bowled.

2008

In July 2008, Scotland played a tri-series against New Zealand and Ireland in Aberdeen, Scotland. Scotland beat Ireland but lost their match against New Zealand.

In early August, Scotland participated with five other Associate nations in the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier in Belfast. Despite an initial loss to hosts Ireland, victory against Bermuda secured a semi final slot. Throwing off the disappointment of an unexpected loss to the Netherlands in the semi-final a few hours earlier, Scotland bounced right back for a 9 wicket victory over Kenya (who had advanced ahead of Canada), to secure third place. However with only two nations guaranteed to progress, qualification for the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 was only granted when Zimbabwe confirmed that they would not attend the tournament.

On August 18, Scotland played their first ODI encounter against England. Hosting the Auld Enemy, at the Grange Cricket Club in Edinburgh. However the match was abandoned due to rain after less than 3 overs of England's reply to Scotland's 156-9.

In December 2008, Cricket Scotland, the governing body of Scottish cricket, took the historic act of giving three Scotland players central contracts. Bowlers Gordon Goudie and Dewald Nel and captain Ryan Watson became the first full-time professional cricketers based in Scotland. Nineteen other cricketers have been offered part-time professional deals.^[27]

2009

The Scottish national team participated in the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 held in England in June 2009. Scotland competed with well-established cricketing nations New Zealand and South Africa in Group D. All of Scotland's matches were be played at the Oval, London.

Their opening game against New Zealand was shortened to 7 overs per side due to rain. The Scots set an impressive total of 89-4 of their 7 overs, with Kyle Coetzer top scoring with 33 runs. But New Zealand still managed to win by 7 wickets with 1 over to spare.^[28]

In their second game, South Africa set a total of 211-5 for Scotland to chase, with AB de Villiers achieving 79 off just 34 balls. In the reply, Scotland were at 13-4 when Kyle Coetzer achieved 42 off 32 balls, before being caught and bowled by Roelof van der Merwe. The scots were eventually bowled out for 81, and South Africa won by 130 runs, the second largest defeat by a run margin in a Twenty20 international.^[29]

2010

In 2010 Scotland are taking part in the Clydesdale Bank 40.

Scotland competed in the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier in the United Arab Emirates, to compete for a place in the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 in the West Indies. They competed for a place with Afghanistan, Canada, Ireland, Kenya, the Netherlands, the UAE and the USA.^[30] The tournament was disappointing for Scotland, going out in the group stage without winning a single match.

Present day and beyond

ICC 2011 World Cup Qualifiers

During March and April 2009 Scotland attempted to defend the ICC Trophy they won in 2005. To secure qualification for the 2011 Cricket World Cup a top four place was targeted. They were also attempting to secure ODI status by finishing in the top six.

Scotland started the tournament badly by losing 3 of their 5 group games. With only the points earned against Namibia being taken through to the Super Eights, Scotland faced a difficult route to the World Cup^[31].

Scotland started the Super Eights well by beating the Netherlands in their first match. Defeats against Kenya and against Afghanistan followed. The result of which threatened Scotland's qualification for the World Cup as well as the possibility of losing their ODI status if they finished out of the top six.

Victory against UAE in their last game, and an improved run-rate, thanks to the 122 run victory, ensured a top six place for the Scots, securing ODI status until the next round of World Cup qualifiers.

Tournament history

‡ Only the matches between Scotland, Ireland and the Netherlands in the 2006 tournament have official ODI status.

Current squad

Scotland's leading ODI wicket-taker John Blain bowls India's Yuvraj Singh at Glasgow's Titwood ground, 16th August 2007

The following table lists the 15 players in Scotland's squad for the 2009 ICC World Cup Qualifier.^[44] Players in bold were part of Scotland's 2007 World Cup squad.

The following players have recently represented Scotland since the 2009 world cup qualifiers.^[45] See also List of Scotland ODI cricketers

Richie Berrington
Stuart Chalmers
Josh Davey
Gordon Drummond
Alasdair Evans
Ollie Hairs
Omer Hussain
Moneeb Iqbal
Dougie Lockhart
Ross Lyons
Gregor Maiden
Preston Mommsen
Matthew Parker
Marc Petrie
Glenn Rogers
Simon Smith
Fraser Watts

Records

One-day International

• Highest team total: 293/8 v Canada, 18 January 2007 at Mombasa, Kenya^[46]
• Highest individual innings: 123 not out, Ryan Watson v Canada, 18 January 2007 at Mombasa, Kenya^[47]
• Best innings bowling: 5/22, John Blain v Netherlands, 29 July 2008 at Clontarf Cricket Club Ground, Dublin^[48]

ICC Trophy

• Highest team total: 324/8 v Ireland, 13 July 2005 at Clontarf Cricket Club Ground, Dublin^[49]
• Highest individual innings: 94, Ryan Watson v Ireland, 13 July 2005 at Clontarf Cricket Club Ground, Dublin^[50]
• Best innings bowling: 6/12, Paul Hoffman v Oman, 1 July 2005 at Shaw's Bridge Lower Ground^[51]

See also

• Cricket in Scotland
• Scottish national cricket captains
• Sport in Scotland
• Scotland national women's cricket team

References