Moles: 'We can give Bangladesh or Zimbabwe a good run'

Around the environs of Scotland's National Cricket Academy in Edinburgh, there is a genuine frisson of excitement and anticipation about the imminent challenge of the most important season in the country's history, for those addicted to cork-and-willow matters.

Until recent times, the sport in these parts used to function with a similar degree of professionalism and urgency to Dibley Parish Council, but a dramatic transformation has been implemented in the governing body. It's there in the steely gaze of Craig Wright, the Saltires captain and marketing manager of Cricket Scotland, who has endured sufficient disappointments in his career to be immune to easy excuses from his compatriots, but perhaps most noticeably in the words, actions and body language of Andy Moles, the former Warwickshire player who recently became Scotland's national coach.

In a nutshell, the Englishman's job is to steer the Scots to the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies. Failure is not an option, given that the leading five teams at this summer's ICC Trophy qualifying competition will book their passage to the Caribbean, as well as the likelihood of being granted full ODI status, with all the benefits that would entail.

Hence the titanium-hard message spelt out to Wright's personnel during a bonding session in the Highlands at the start of April: namely that the batsmen have to improve their performance - "by 40%," according to Moles - while the team as a whole must cease to specialise in inconsistency and toughen up their act ahead of their final National League campaign, as the prelude to tackling Oman, Canada, Papua New Guinea, Namibia and Holland in July. This might hardly sound the most daunting of assignments, but Moles, a staunch member of the Edgbaston collective which dominated the county circuit in the early 1990s, has no interest in finishing second or third. He wants outright victory, as another reminder to the ICC that they should really be sending Bangladesh to Scotland this summer, rather than despatching them into the lion's den of a string of what may well turn out to be dispiriting drubbings at the hands of England and Australia.

"Nobody owes us anything, but we will be offered opportunities by the ICC if we show the right commitment and application and produce results where they count," says Moles. "The lads know that. They are an intelligent bunch and they appreciate that, too often, they have underachieved with the bat, got out in the twenties instead of progressing to a major score, while we have to be more streetwise in the matches where situations get tight.

"Yet, even in the short time I have been in Scotland, I have seen enough potential to believe that we would give Bangladesh or Zimbabwe a good run for their money at the moment, and hopefully, if we continue to crank up the momentum, the ICC will invite us to be part of a triangular tournament with the Aussies and England in the future. But we can't be starry-eyed about what< might happen. Instead, we have to be 100% focused and hard-nosed in our approach and recognise that a frontline batsman who is averaging 20 isn't carrying his weight. Nor is a fielder who drops catches regularly, or a bowler who takes three or four overs to find his direction. We have sat down and discussed these issues and the boys are an honest bunch. So now we have to bring it all together."

This week, belatedly, Moles and his squad will escape from indoor nets in Edinburgh and Glasgow into the start of an intensive fixture schedule over the next six weeks. Today they lock horns with Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge, tomorrow they practise at Edgbaston, and then they have two tussles with Warwickshire, by which stage we should have an inkling of Moles's impact on his charges, the majority of whom have participated in the Saltires' jousts since their formation in 2003.

One suspects the coach will be particularly interested in the form of Fraser Watts, Dougie Lockhart and Steve Knox, all of whom have been adept at providing cameos rather than matchwinning displays, but he will also have to check on a bowling line-up which looks worryingly long in the tooth, with Asim Butt, Paul Hoffmann and James Brinkley being 37, 35 and 31 respectively. On paper, at least, these individuals, operating in tandem with such mercurial characters as Ryan Watson, Colin Smith and Wright himself, should move quickly into their stride, prior to commencing hostilities with Durham at The Grange on May 1. If they don't, Moles will not show the same loyalty as his predecessor, Tony Judd. Bluntly, he hasn't the luxury of time at his disposal, en route to Ireland.

"Don't get me wrong, the Scots have definitely sharpened up their act in the last decade. When I used to play against them, these were matches you expected to dominate from beginning to end, and one of the failings of Scotland and the Minor Counties at that stage was that they were enjoying the experience, not seriously believing they could record a victory," says Moles. "Since then, the lads have matured and there is a noticeably different attitude among the county sides nowadays. They recognise that they can't just stroll into Edinburgh and casually assume they will notch up a hundred or take five wickets, and that is a measure of how the Scots have developed, whether in skittling Kenya and Canada on the road to winning the Intercontinental Cup last winter, or in beating the likes of Durham, Lancashire, Sussex and Somerset in the past two years.

"But, in plain terms, the Saltires were still bottom of the table in 2003 and 2004, so I want us to improve on that position in 2005. We have the talent to be competitive against anyone in the National League, but we have to get all the parts working in unison. I'm confident we possess the ability to do just that. But let's get out onto the grass ..."

These next few days will proffer tentative steps into a fresh era. Yet ultimately, Moles doesn't strike this observer as being imbued with limitless patience. He is rightly demanding a new philosophy from his men and those disinclined to eat, breathe and sleep cricket for the next six months should start organising their summer barbecues now.