The Scotland national cricket team (Scots: Scotland naitional cricket team, Scottish Gaelic: sgioba nàiseanta criogaid na h-Alba) represents the country of Scotland. They play their home matches at The Grange, Edinburgh, and also some other venues.
Scotland have also played in every ICC Intercontinental Cup tournament, winning the inaugural edition in 2004. Between 2010 and 2013, the team competed in the ECB 40 as the Scottish Saltires.
In April 2018, the ICC decided to grant full Twenty20 International (T20I) status to all its members. Therefore, all Twenty20 matches played between Scotland and other ICC members after 1 January 2019 are a full T20I.[8]
History
Before ICC Membership
The first recorded cricket match in Scotland took place in Alloa in 1785.[9] It would be another eighty years, however, before Scotland's national side played their first full match, against the English county Surrey in 1865, which 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 Cricket Club took over the administration of the game until 1909. The first match against Ireland took place in Dublin in 1888, with Ireland winning. Scotland played their first match to be afforded first-class status against the touring Australians in 1905, with the Scottish side being captained to a draw by Hubert Johnston.[10] They also played South Africa, West Indies, an all-Indian team, and New Zealand before the start of World War II.
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 Don Bradman. The Don signed off in typical style, making a fine unbeaten 123 in the innings victory.[11]
Scotland first competed in English domestic cricket in 1980, when they competed in the Benson & Hedges Cup for the first time. Three years later they took part in the NatWest Trophy. Their first Benson & Hedges win came against Lancashire in 1986.
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 Brian Hardie, who was a major contributor to the successful Essex side of the 1970s and 1980s. Possibly one of the best spinners and certainly a respected journalist was the aptly named Ian Peebles,[12] who was one of the cricketers of the year in 1931 alongside Don Bradman.
The most infamous cricketer, a man who was vilified in Australia, was a Scot, Douglas Jardine, father to and inventor of "Leg 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. He asked for his ashes to be scattered in Scotland and gave his own children Scottish names.
Australia won by 6 wickets New Road, Worcester, England Umpires: Steve Dunne (NZ) and Peter Willey (Eng) Player of the match: Mark Waugh (Aus)
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. However, they did not progress beyond the first round in the 2005 tournament.[15]
2006
Scotland's Ryan Watson plays through backward point for a boundary against India at Glasgow's Titwood ground, 16 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.[16] They owed much of their success to Nik Morton, 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.[17]
In June, they played their first ODI since the 1999 World Cup when they took on Pakistan in Edinburgh.[18] Without key players Dougie Brown and Navdeep Poonia, they lost by five wickets.[19] They finally got their first ODI win in the European Championships in August with a win over Holland in a rain-shortened game.[20] They again missed key players for some games in this tournament though, and thanks to their loss against Ireland, finished second in the tournament.[21]
During 2006 and early 2007, Scotland participated in the third edition of the Intercontinental Cup. They beat Namibia by an innings in May 2006, but draws against Ireland in August and the United Arab Emirates in January 2007 meant that they failed to reach the final.[22] In December 2006, they travelled to Test nation Bangladesh for a two-match ODI series – their first outside the UK – but lost both matches heavily.[23]
They then travelled to West Indies for their second World Cup. They again lost all their games and failed to progress beyond the first round.[26] Back in the UK, they competed in the Friends Provident Trophy, their only win coming against Lancashire.[27] They also drew an Intercontinental Cup match against United Arab Emirates.[28] An ODI against Pakistan in July was washed out.[29]
In July, Scotland took part in a quadrangular series in Ireland against the hosts, Holland and West Indies. However, the endeavour was not a success. They lost their matches against Ireland and West Indies, with the match against Holland being abandoned due to rain.
At the beginning of August, Scotland were on Intercontinental Cup duty as they beat Holland by an innings and 59 runs. They then drew with Ireland in a rain-affected match, only gaining 3 points 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 Holland 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 18 August, 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.[30]
The first match, against New Zealand, was shortened to 7 overs per side due to rain. Scotland batted first and made 89/4, with Kyle Coetzer top-scoring with 33. However, three no-balls and a dropped catch enabled New Zealand to win by seven wickets with an over to spare.[31]
In the second match, South Africa made 211/5, with AB de Villiers hitting 79 not out off only 34 balls. In response, Scotland were bowled out for 81, more than half of which was scored by Coetzer (42). The 130-run margin of defeat was the second-largest in terms of runs in a Twenty20 International.[32]
2010
In 2010, Scotland took part in the inaugural ECB 40 tournament.
Scotland's Intercontinental Cup campaign was more successful as they reached the final in December – against Afghanistan – at the bespoke new cricket stadium in Dubai. Scheduled as a four-day first-class match of two innings each side, Afghanistan won the game in eight sessions. This was also the first cricket match of any kind that was live-streamed online – by two Scottish fans, with the agreement of the ICC.[citation needed]
ICC 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 three of their five 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.[34]
Scotland started the Super Eights well by beating Holland in their first match. Defeats against Kenya and 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 United Arab Emirates 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.
In January 2017 Scotland took part in the 2017 Desert T20 Challenge. They won all three of their group fixtures, before losing to Ireland in the semi-finals.
Calum MacLeod scored the fastest century by a batsman for Scotland in ODIs and became the first batsman for Scotland to score a century in ODIs against England.[37]
Scotland made their highest score in ODIs and the highest score by an Associate team against a Full Member team.[37]
Jonny Bairstow became the first batsman for England to score centuries in three consecutive ODIs.[37]
‡ Only the matches between Scotland, Ireland and Netherlands in the 2006 tournament have official ODI status.
Current squad
This lists all the active players who are contracted to or have played for Scotland in the past year (since 13 March 2023) and the forms in which they have played, and any players (in italics) outside this criterion who have been selected in the team's most recent ODI or T20I squad. This doesn't include Tom Mackintosh, who has since retired.[51]
Perry, Jake (2020). The Secret Game: Tales of Scottish Cricket. Shrewsbury: Chequered Flag Publishing. ISBN9781999777463.
—————; Heatly, Gary (2022). Playing with Teeth: How Scotland's Cricketers Broke the Cycle of Glorious Failure. Chichester, West Sussex: Pitch Publishing. ISBN9781801501217.
Australia at New Road, Worcester; 16 May 1999
Canada at Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai; 7 March 2024
Pakistan at Kingsmead, Durban; 12 September 2007
United Arab Emirates at Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai; 14 March 2024
