Labours of Love put to the test (3 May 1999)

3 May 1999

Labours of Love put to the test

Robert Philip

Some people go to the ends of the earth in search of sport's most exciting white-knuckle rides; bobsleighers insist no thrill compares with hurtling down the Cresta Run . . . racing drivers retort 'well, you should try the mayhem of the Indianapolis speedway'. . . to a yachtsman, nothing can beat sailing around the globe single-handed . . . climbers form a Disneyland-length queue to have a shot at scaling Everest.

But surely Jim Love took on the ultimate challenge when he moved from Yorkshire to Edinburgh charged with the task of transforming Scotland into a major power in cricket. The book of Great Scottish Cricket Heroes is short and concise, listing the deeds of Douglas Jardine, Mike Denness and . . ."that's it," grins Love, "you've named them all. Two."

When he arrived at the headquarters of the Scottish Cricket Union six years ago as national coach and missionary, the established Test countries regarded Scotland's attempts to master the game with the half-amused smile of a dad watching his three-year-old son mimicking his shaving action in the bathroom mirror. Touring teams would usually condescend to travel north of Hadrian's Wall to engage in a one-day game, but they did so in carnival atmosphere; in sporting terms, playing Scotland at cricket was an afternoon spent on the dodgems rather than the emotional roller-coaster ride of a Test match at Lord's.

But now the likes of Australia, West Indies and Pakistan await, and Love admits his adopted clan are stepping into the unknown. "How good are we? We don't know, to be honest. I have my suspicions," he laughs nervously. "Looking at the World Cup realistically, we're hoping to beat Bangladesh. We beat them in a one-day series over here last year so there's no reason why we shouldn't do it again. We'd like to think we're also capable of causing a big upset. But if the Aussies thrash us in the opening game then it'll be very difficult to pick the lads up. Personally speaking, I believe anything less than a 75-run defeat against Australia would be pretty respectable, but I don't know if others will see it that way."

Like Morris Dancing and Dandelion & Burdock, cricket is generally regarded as a mysterious English tradition in Scotland, yet the weight of expectation will run high nevertheless. After all, the rugby union XV recently won the Five Nations' Championship and soccer fans are still celebrating an equally famous victory over Germany in Bremen, so why shouldn't the nation's cricketers bring home a third triumph?

"I'll try telling that to the lads," says Love. "Maybe it'll inspire them. We're not totally inexperienced at this level because most of them will have played against a couple of major countries before in one-day games. Where they are inexperienced is the whole razzmatazz of the World Cup - having the TV cameras on them for six-and-a-half hours a day, all the interviews and, as I keep telling them, they'll be dissected and taken to pieces technically by the sports reporters and commentators, leaving me and Graham Dilley to put them back together.

"We're the only amateur side in the competition and whereas professionals learn to accept criticism - justified or unjustified - as part of the job, it's difficult for amateurs to have the mickey taken out of them when they're only doing their best.

But if we perform reasonably well, and by that I mean being able to make a real match of it for three-quarters of the game or something like that then lose out in the final stages, then no-one will be laughing at us, will they?"

Scotland's cause would have been considerably enhanced had not Dougie Brown and Peter Such incurred 10-year bans from representing the country of their birth by turning out for England. "We don't blame them for that. They're professionals and they had to accept the opportunity when it came along. In Gavin Hamilton's case it works the other way. The rules state Gavin can play for Scotland until such time as he is picked by England. That seems only sensible to me." The Yorkshire bowler is one of three English county players in the Scotland squad. "We also have John Blane from Northants. John is a product of the Scottish system, having come right through the ranks from the under-13 side. He's only 20 and on his debut in the Sunday League took five for 24, so he obviously shows great promise. Traditionally - and I know this from the number of times I played up here with Yorkshire - bowling has always been a weakness of the Scotland team. But as well as Hamilton and Blane, we have James Brinkley, who's turned out for Worcestershire and Essex, plus Asim Butt from Pakistan who qualifies under the five-year residency rule. So we're better off for seam-bowling than we've ever been."

But will any of them fancy their chances against Brian Lara, to name but one of the great batsman about to be unleashed upon them? "We'll have to wait and see. But if Lara's batting at No 3, I'd like to think we'll get him early and find out."

Although he made three one-day international appearances for England and was named man-of-the-match with an unbeaten 75 in Yorkshire's 1987 Benson & Hedges Cup final defeat of Northants at Lord's, Love is sincere when he says Scotland's success in qualifying for the World Cup during a gruelling five-week tournament in Malaysia ranks higher than any of his personal achievements.

"The ICC meet in July to decide whether to award us official one-day status and that could be incredibly important - as important as the World Cup - in raising cricket's profile in Scotland. The Scots are tremendously passionate about all sports and there's no reason why thousands of youngsters shouldn't be turned on to the game. Did you know there are more cricket clubs than rugby clubs up here? I have to say we also have the very best World Cup strip which, so I'm told, is being worn at football grounds all over the country."

The first man to walk out in public wearing the dark blue shirt with Scottish saltire and tartan collar will be opening batsman Ian Philp, a 40-year-old veteran who has been dreaming of just such an occasion for two decades and more. "Facing Glenn McGrath or Curtly Ambrose won't phase Ian in the least. I'm really pleased for Philpy because he's been an absolute stalwart; he's got the most number of caps, record number of runs, highest score. Ian's faced all the great bowlers over the years and no-one knows better than him that you play the ball, not the man who's bowling it.

"But we need a bit of luck; sometimes it can all depend on a dropped catch. That happened to Ian Philp last year when he was out of our plans. He captained Scotland B against the young Australians, was dropped before scoring, went on to make 100 and has never looked back. With a little bit of luck like that, who knows what lies ahead?"

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