ICC Cricket World Cup countdown - Scotland

ICC Cricket World Cup countdown - Scotland © ICC

Cricket has a long pedigree in Scotland, dating back 220 years, and actually pre-dates football as a popular spectator sport. However, only top matches in top-class competitions now attract spectators - although it is likely that many more follow the game through the media.

There are around 12,000 active cricketers in Scotland, of which half are junior players, the older ones increasingly populating senior club teams and making an earlier impact. There are 150 registered clubs and a dozen associations attached to Cricket Scotland, the national governing body of the sport. But there could be as many as 50 other unregistered clubs around the country.

Schools cricket has declined rapidly over the past 25 years, with even private schools giving up the game. But there are pockets of strong interest, particularly in rural areas, and a handful of city-based state schools continue to encourage their pupils to take part. The burden of youth development is now borne almost entirely by the clubs, many of which have a proud record in embracing and integrating the high proportion of Asian-origin players available in the cities.

Of all the ICC Associate Member countries, Scotland has probably the best-developed grass-roots infrastructure, with most clubs able to play on natural turf pitches in good-quality surroundings in well-organised local leagues and cup competitions. The national league has three divisions and 30 clubs and it is from these clubs that the national team selections are generally made (although half a dozen Scots are currently attached to English counties).

For obvious geographical reasons, the Scottish cricket season is exceptionally short, not much more than four months, but it is intense and densely fixtured at all levels, with Twenty20 matches being possible in the long midsummer evenings.

1785 - First recorded cricket match in Scotland, played at Schaw Park, Alloa.

1820 - Earliest records of Kelso CC, the oldest extant cricket club in Scotland.

1865 - First representative cricket match involving `Scotland'.

1980 - Scotland admitted to participation in the Benson & Hedges Cup and NatWest Trophy competitions against English county sides.

1992 - Scotland resigned from membership of the UK Cricket Council and applied for independent membership of the ICC (admitted in 1994).

1997 - Scotland participated in the ICC Trophy for the first time, finishing in third place to qualify at the first attempt for the ICC Cricket World Cup, staged in the UK in 1999.

2003 - Having failed to qualify for the next ICC Cricket World Cup, Scotland were invited by the England & Wales Cricket Board to take part in their Sunday League for a period of three years, to 2005.

2004 - Scotland won the inaugural (three-day) ICC Intercontinental Cup for Associate Members, and followed that in 2005 by winning the (one-day) ICC Trophy in Ireland to qualify for the 2007 World Cup and, incidentally, becoming the first ICC country to hold two senior men's trophies at the same time.

Ryan Watson - Scotland's most reliable all-rounder, he shattered the record for one-day match century-makers when he reached three figures in 43 balls in a truncated Sunday League match against Somerset in Edinburgh in 2003. The Zimbabwe-born Scot is also a useful off-spinner who could enjoy the conditions in St Kitts.

Paul Hoffmann - Scotland's ultra-dependable new-ball bowler will be in his late-30s by the time of the World Cup, but the Australian-born Scot can still be expected to add bite to the attack - and, after thrashing a 35-ball century in Scotland's national league in 2005, proved he can contribute rapid runs when they are needed.

Colin Smith - Almost certainly the tallest wicket-keeper in world cricket, the Aberdeenshire policeman is not just a safe pair of hands with the instinct, speed and reaction time of a leopard, but also an inspirational right-handed batsman who leads the middle-order effort from a great height - 6ft 3in.

Ross Lyons - It's a little early to be certain which youngsters might be included in the Scotland squad for the World Cup, but the 20-year-old left-arm spinner from the Clydesdale club in Glasgow, is a hot tip, even after only two representative matches for Scotland. A superb deep fielder, he is also more than capable of scoring runs quickly.