Scottish cricket team
The
Scottish cricket team represents
Scotland at the game of
cricket. When they play in the
English one-day
National Cricket League, they compete as the
Scottish Saltires. In
2006 Scotland will play in the
C&G Trophy. The Scottish Saltires play their home matches at
The Grange, Edinburgh.
They were elected to associate membership of the
International Cricket Council in
1994 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. Furthermore, the team were unable to qualify in
2003.
In
2004 the Scotland cricket team competed in the inaugural
ICC Intercontinental Cup. They first played
Ireland and
Holland (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. They also competed in that tournament in
2005, but failed to progress past the first round. 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 Trophy in
2009. Scotland played their first One Day International outside of World Cups against
Pakistan in June 2006. Scotland will play Ireland and Holland in One Day Internationals in August 2006 at Ayr.
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. The most infamous Cricketer, a man who was villified in Australia, was a Scot,
Douglas Jardine, father to and inventor of "Body Theory", which is well documented under "
Bodyline". 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.
Before ICC Membership
The first recorded cricket match in Scotland took place in
Alloa in
1785. It would be another 80 years however, before Scotland played their first full international, against
Surrey in 1865, where they won by 172 runs.
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. The match was eventually to gain first class status, and has been played almost annually ever since, most recently as part of the
2005 ICC Intercontinental Cup.
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. The Don signed off in typical style, making a fine unbeaten 123 in the innings victory. [
2]
Scotland first competed in English domestic cricket in
1980, when they competed in the
Benson & Hedges Cup for the first time. Their first win would come against
Lancashire in
1986.
ICC Membership
In
1992 Scotland severed their ties with the English cricket team, and gained associate membership of the
ICC in their own right in
1994. They competed in the
ICC Trophy for the first time in
1997, finishing third and qualifying for the
1999 World Cup, where they lost all their games. The
2001 ICC Trophy saw them finish 4th, losing a play-off game to
Canada, 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 inaugaral Intercontinental Cup. They didn't progress beyond the first round in the 2005 tournament, however.
March 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. They owed much of their success to Dougie Brown, who re-qualified to represent Scotland internationally in 2004.
Tournament History
*1975 to 1992: Not eligible - Not an ICC member
*
1996: Not eligible - Not an ICC member at time of qualification.
*
1999: First round
*
2003: Did not qualify
*
1998: First round
*2004: Won
*
2005: First round
*2000: 6th place
*2002: Did not participate
*2004: Runners up
*1979 to 1994: Not eligible - Not an ICC member
*
1997: 3rd place
*
2001: 4th place
*
2005: Won
*1996: 5th place
*1998: 3rd place
*2000: 3rd place (Division One)
*2002: Division One runners up
*2004: 4th place (Division One)
Between April and June, Scotland will participate in the newly formatted
C & G Trophy, playing nine games against English county teams. In May, they will play their first match in this years
Intercontinental Cup, playing
Namibia in
Aberdeen. Following their duties in the C & G Trophy, they will play their first official One-Day International since the
1999 World Cup, playing
Pakistan in
Edinburgh.
August will see them hosting
Division One of the
European Championship, where they will play
Denmark,
Ireland,
Italy and
The Netherlands. The games against Ireland and The Netherlands will be classed as full ODIs. This tournament will be followed by an Intercontinental Cup game against Ireland.
In January 2007, Scotland will travel to
Kenya, where they will play a 5-match ODI series against
Kenya before participating in
Division One of the
ICC World Cricket League. This will be followed by their final Intercontinental Cup game against the
UAE at Sharjah, followed by an ODI against Ireland at the same venue.
They then travel to the
West Indies for the World Cup, first playing warm-up games against
Sri Lanka and
Bangladesh in
Barbados before their first round matches against
Australia, The Netherlands and
South Africa in
St Kitts.
*
2005 ICC Intercontinental Cup*
2005 ICC Trophy*
Sport in Scotland*
Cricket Scotland website
