The Rise of Scottish Cricket
Scotland may have missed out on an opportunity to exhibit their continuing form thanks to a washed-out game against Bangladesh. However, their recent second-place finish in the ICC World Cricket League Division One tournament suggests that they are back at the international stage after a couple of indifferent years when they failed to qualify for the 2011 World Cup.
Speaking of Scotland and their cricket, the first Test between http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 and England in Johannesburg in the winter of 1999 had Gavin Hamilton make his debut for England.
It was a nightmare for both England and Hamilton, him getting out for a pair and going wicketless and England losing by an innings. Hamilton would never play for England again. But that game was not just about the debut. It was an acceptance of sorts.
Hamilton was the first Scottish cricketer to play a Test match for England, after Scotland had severed its ties with the TCCB (Test and County Cricket Board) and England. Scotland has also produced some famous cricketers before 1992, who have plied their trade in and for England. Some notable names are Mike Denness, the man who captained England 19 times, Dougie http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Brown-c48671 and Ian Peebles, the spinner who shared the 1931 Cricketer of the Year award with Sir Don Bradman.
But the most famous Scot to have played for England would be Doug Jardine, the man who was able to restrain the Don himself, during the Bodyline series.
Cricket in Scotland is very old, 225 years to be precise. The national team beat http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 way back in 1881. However, it was the year 1980 by the time they competed in the English county circuit. But Scotland broke its ties with the TCCB (superseded by the England and Wales Cricket Board) and England in 1992 and became an Associate Member of the ICC in 1994.
Their first notable success in the international arena came in the ICC trophy in 1997, where they finished third. They lost to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Scotland-c756, in which they lost all their games. The only redeeming factor was Hamilton, who scored 217 runs in five innings.
Disappointment followed in the 2001 ICC trophy. The new format meant that there would be two finalists picked after a super league. Scotland finished third and failed to qualify for the final. They lost the third place off against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Canada-c748 and failed to qualify for the 2003 World Cup in Africa.
However, success would follow soon and Scotland won the first ever Intercontinental Cup in 2004. In 2005, they won their first ICC trophy, beating http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ireland-c751 in the final. This meant that they would go to the West Indies to play in their second World Cup.
The year 2007 was a mixed bag. Their performance in the 2007 World Cup was similar to their performance in their previous World Cup, in which they lost all their group games. They also performed poorly in a quadrangular series at home against Ireland, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 was washed away.
Their run in the last three years has been disappointing. Their poor run continued in the World T20 championships in England in 2009 and they failed to qualify for the tournament in 2010. However, the major disappointment and a potentially self destructing performance came in the ICC World Cup Qualifiers in South Africa when they failed to finish in the top four, and along with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Afghanistan-c745, did not qualify for the tournament.
This helped them retain their ODI status but did not earn them a place in the ICC World Cup in 2011. This meant that Scotland would lose their income of $150000 a year. They have also lost their sponsor, Llyds TSB and will find it tough to get another sponsor now they have failed to qualify for the world cup.
But things have started to look up for Scotland ever since that tournament. They were runners up in the recently concluded ICC World Cricket League Division One. They lost to Ireland in the final but their performances throughout the tournament were very good. Scotland’s history shows that they have been able to come up after disappointments and the cricket lovers in Scotland hope that their team would do so again.
A sound infrastructure and the experience of players who’ve played in England do suggest that Scotland should be able to do so, like they’ve always done.
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