Photo Credit: Cricket Scotland
The Scotland Men’s squad has been confirmed today ahead of the ICC Men’s World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe, which runs from June 18 until July 9.
Scotland Men’s Squad
Richie Berrington (captain) (Clydesdale)
Matthew Cross (Heriot’s)
Alasdair Evans (Carlton)
Chris Greaves (Grange)
Jack Jarvis (Grange)
Michael Leask (Forfarshire)
Tom Mackintosh (Durham)
Chris McBride (Dumfries)
Brandon McMullen (RH Corstorphine)
George Munsey (RH Corstorphine)
Adrian Neill (Heriot’s)
Safyaan Sharif (Perth Doo’cot)
Chris Sole (Grange)
Hamza Tahir (Ayr)
Mark Watt (Tamworth)
There are two changes from the squad which lifted the ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 trophy in February. Pace bowlers Alasdair Evans and Adrian Neill return replacing Liam Naylor and the retired Kyle Coetzer from the travelling party that toured Nepal.
A number of players with county contracts were considered for selection, but were unavailable due to their commitments in domestic cricket during the early part of the summer.
Alasdair Evans, who last week was confirmed as one of Cricket Scotland’s fourteen contracted men’s players for 2023-2024, could play his first ODI since facing Oman in 2021. Meanwhile Adrian Neill re-joins the squad in prime form, after taking 6-17 on club duty with Heriots on Saturday.
Interim Head Coach Doug Watson arrived in Scotland last week after spending time with much of the squad in Antigua in April. He’s excited about what lies ahead for his team in Zimbabwe.
“I think there’s a good mixture in this squad of youth and senior players who’ve been around a while – the likes of Richie and George, as well as some exciting young talent in Jack Jarvis and Chris McBride.
“It’s obviously a wonderful opportunity coming up in Zimbabwe, and the guys that we’ve selected are all really excited and fizzing to go. They know how tough the challenge is going to be.
“It’s moving into winter over there just now, and the conditions are changing, and will be quite spin-friendly, but the key thing will be for us to adapt to the conditions and approach the games the way we want to play them.”
The Scotland squad will fly to Pretoria in South Africa on Saturday, June 3, for a pre-tournament training camp. They will also play two warmup games against Nepal and Netherlands, before travelling on to Zimbabwe.
There will be a new backroom staff supporting Doug and the squad during the Qualifier. Glenn Pocknall and Graeme Beghin will act as Assistant Coaches, with Gavin Cross joining the tour as physiotherapist.
Glenn Pocknall will be Bowling Lead and brings vast experience to the coaching setup as a former Head Coach of the Wellington Firebirds – in 2021, he was appointed as Black Caps Head Coach for their T20 series in Bangladesh. Graeme Beghin returns to work with the Scotland squad once again as Batting & Fielding Lead, having been Batting Coach during last year’s T20 World Cup, while Gavin Cross is currently Head Physiotherapist with the Wellington Firebirds.
The fixture schedule for the Qualifier is expected to be confirmed by the ICC in the coming days. The ten competing teams are:
ICC Cricket World Cup Super League – Bottom Five
West Indies
Sri Lanka
Ireland
Zimbabwe
Netherlands
ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 – Top Three
Scotland
Oman
Nepal
Qualifier Playoff – Top Two
United States
United Arab Emirates
The top two teams will move forward to the 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, which takes place in India between October 5 and November 19, 2023.
The selection process for the squad can be viewed HERE.
Name of Author: Cricket Scotland
Cricket Scotland, formerly the Scottish Cricket Union, is the governing body for cricket in Scotland, based at the National Cricket Academy in Edinburgh. Established in 1908 and restructured in 2001, it became an ICC Associate Member in 1994. The organization includes three sub-associations: the East of Scotland Cricket Association, Western District Cricket Union, and Aberdeenshire Cricket Association.
