Coetzer upset at Scotland omission

Kyle Coetzer, the Scotland batsman and former captain, has expressed his surprise and upset at being omitted from the squad for ICC World T20 Qualifiers next month.

Coetzer, 31, was part of the World Cup earlier this year and finished as Scotland's leading run-scorer with 253 runs at 42.16 including 156 against Bangladesh in Nelson. In 20 T20Is he has scored 442 runs at 23.26 with a strike-rate of 101.14.

"I am hugely disappointed not to have been selected in the 15-man squad announced by Cricket Scotland for the T20 World Cup Qualifiers. I believed I had a great deal to offer Scotland in all three formats of the game," he said in a statement posted on Twitter.

"I am immensely proud of my overall record for Scotland which includes being their leading run-scorer in the T20 format and for Scotland at the 2009 T20 World Cup. After the recent 50-over World Cup which was successful from a personal point of view it us upsetting I will it be able to transfer that into the shorter format of the game.

"Having played in a T20 World Cup before, overseas T20 comps and in the Northants side that won the T20 competition in 2013 I would have loved to have been able to pass on some of my experience to the exciting younger members of the squad to play a key part in the qualification, but unfortunately that is not to be.

"I look forward to hopefully being involved in future squads and good luck to those involved at the Qualifiers."

Preston Mommsen, who was captain at the World Cup, will again lead the squad which includes call-ups for wicketkeeper-batsman Craig Wallace and 22-year-old batsman George Munsey. There is also a spot for recently qualified Con de Lange, the South Africa-born left-arm spinner, who made his Scotland debut last month and uncapped 18-year-old left-arm spinner Mark Watt.

However, there remains no place for offspinner Majid Haq who was sent home from the World Cup for disciplinary reasons. Matt Machan, the left-handed batsman, is also unavailable having committed to Sussex.

Grant Bradburn, the Scotland coach, said: "It is so encouraging for Scotland to announce such a well-balanced, dynamic and strong T20 selection. A feature of the selections is the rewarding of performance at domestic level. George Munsey, Craig Wallace, Con de Lange and Mark Watt are all positive examples of Scottish based players who have forced selection through weight of performance in this format.

"There is an exciting blend of dynamic skills throughout the squad, while as a team we have a simple goal of winning the T20 Qualifiers. As a group we are all excited to be the host nation with a great opportunity to showcase our skills at home in this format."