Scottish Cricket: Hamilton tempted by England interest (26 Aug 1998)

26 August 1998

Scottish Cricket: Hamilton tempted by England interest

By Keith Graham

YORKSHIRE all-rounder Gavin Hamilton could be tempted to change his mind over his decision to play for Scotland in next year's World Cup.

Hamilton, 23, was born in Linlithgow and pledged himself to Scotland's World Cup cause in a conversation with coach Jim Love.

He then underlined his commitment by playing for Scotland in their recent one-day international in Edinburgh against Bangladesh.

But following his fine form for his county, Hamilton, who took 10 wickets and scored 149 runs in Yorkshire's championship win over Glamorgan at Cardiff, has been linked with a possible England call-up in the future.

The England and Wales Cricket Board have indicated that they might consider an appeal to the International Cricket Council to prevent Hamilton from having to serve a two-year qualification term before playing for England.

Hamilton said: "I do not want to let down Jim Love or Scotland and I will just have to see what develops. I cannot say any more at this time."

The rules governing qualification of players for both full and associate members of the ICC, however, state that anyone appearing for an associate member in an international against another country cannot then play for another full member country (in this case England) for two years.

No mention is made in the rules that such a game would have to have official one-day international status - the game in which Hamilton played did not. Bangladesh have been awarded one-day international status but as yet, Scotland have not.

The Scottish Cricket Union sought unsuccessfully to clarify the player qualification situation by putting a motion before the ICC two months ago which suggested that there should be no embargo on players who have played for associate members being allowed to go on to qualify immediately for full member teams.

Speculation that Peter Such, the Scottish-born Essex off-spinner who last played for England in 1994, is now qualified to play for Scotland, is wide of the mark. Having played for a full member nation, he is, according to the same rules, disqualified from appearing for an associate member country for 10 years.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)