Cricket Scotland has announced a 15-man squad to take part in September's Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa.
"I know that this bunch of cricketers will give everything they've got to make an impression," Ryan Watson, Scotland's captain, said. "We have nothing to lose, and we have to play with that certainty in order to spring a surprise or two."
Roddy Smith, chief executive of Cricket Scotland, welcomed the opportunity for Scotland to play on the world stage and said, "The team showed in their very close loss to West Indies last month that they can compete very well against Full Members."
Scotland have two warm-up games arranged in South Africa prior to the tournament, against Bangladesh on September 8 and Zimbabwe on September 9.
Scotland squad Ryan Watson (capt), John Blain, Dougie Brown, Navdeep Poonia, Gordon Drummond, Gavin Hamilton, Majid Haq, Ross Lyons, Qasim Sheikh, Neil McCallum, Gregor Maiden, Dewald Nel, Colin Smith (wk), Fraser Watts, Craig Wright.
Comments
Posted by: Matthew Jackman at August 2, 2007 11:17 AM
I am surprised at the inclusion of Gavin Hamilton who has been in poor form ever since the World Cricket League for Scotland. I believe he is way past his best and is just holding another good young talented Scottish batsmen. I also believe he should be bowled more often if he is going to be selected in the team, in particular at the World Cup 20/20 where his mediums and slower bowls would be quite effective.
Posted by: joe at August 2, 2007 1:45 PM
why is kyle coetzer not in it?
Posted by: Craig at August 2, 2007 2:21 PM
The continued absence of Scotland's finest cricketer from the national squad is shameful and displays the struggles for associate nations to develop.
How can Scotland expect to be competitive without its best players? Durham will release Plunkett and Collingwood for the Twenty20 World Cup but yet deny us Kyle Coetzer?
Its an appalling situation and if the ICC truly want the sport to go global they will seek to support the associates more than they currently do in terms of finance and logistics.
Posted by: Ramakrishnan R at August 2, 2007 2:38 PM
Where is Paul Hoffmann?? He could have been a matchwinner
Posted by: Chris Edgar at August 2, 2007 3:23 PM
Gavin Hamilton has been selected on the basis that he might perform and he has a fair bit of experience, but i don't think he should be in the starting XI.
In defence or Durham, they are paying him to play for them, so him missing possibly 3 county championship matches is somewhat unfair on them. i don't blame Durham for not releasing them, but i am far from a fan of theirs because of what they did when he was picked to play vs Pakistan - it was basically blackmail and Durham didn't even have a match on that day.
i wasn't surprised at the exclusion of Hoffman, purely because he didn't play in any of the 'trial' matches. he would have been a great selection because he keeps it tidy and hits insane sixes over third man. i guess cricket scotland are either trying to bring in the next generation or they just don't see him fit enough, because i can't see it being a question of ability.
at the end of the day it all comes back to the issue of the icc perhaps not doing all they could to globalise cricket. they seem awfully determined for cricket to be big in zimbabwe, who, im sorry, in general don't care very much. whereas Scotland get a miniscule fraction of the funding, desperate to be competative on a major scale. its not much to ask for: 15 or so contracts for their best players and funds for the occasional tour overseas. And its not like the icc dont have the money.
Posted by: Andrew Nixon at August 2, 2007 4:36 PM
Joe and Craig - Release for this tournament is supposed to be mandatory, yet Kyle Coetzer has not been released by Durham, revealing the complete ineffectiveness of the ICC on this issue.
Posted by: shaheer Khan at August 6, 2007 7:08 AM
well scotland IS against the worlds 2 most unpredictable teams so ya they do have a good chance...
Posted by: Ralph Laing at August 9, 2007 11:50 AM
Hoffman does seem a surprising exclusion, althought too many players in their mid 30s may be difficult in this format. If Plunkett and Collingwood can be released then so should Coetzer. Might even be to durham long-term benefit......
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