Scotland 'no walkover'

Don't for one moment think that Scotland will be at Cricket World Cup 2007 just to make up a number.

There are those - thousands maybe - who feel the biggest stage of the game is no place for fledgling cricket nations. Scotland's upset win against a Barbados XI last week should be enough evidence that they can cause another shock result at the big event.

"Absolutely ... we can cause an upset," said coach Peter Drinnen. Whether or not they or fellow lightweights like Bermuda, Holland, Ireland or Canada could do the unthinkable and topple any of the big guns, there would always be the debate that too many of International Cricket Council associate members are at the World Cup.

For the first time in nine World Cups, as many as six "second rate" teams are on show. "The ICC has been very supportive of associate members and are trying to push us forward to that next level. We welcome that," Drinnen said. "We've got to do everything we can to prepare the players in a professional manner.

"If that opportunity arises, we will try to be as competitive as we can at that next level. We're excited by the challenge and the players are certainly putting in the work."

They are making the most of the opportunity they have in Barbados. One win in six matches might not be an accurate reflection of their quality. When they lost their first two matches to University of the West Indies and Empire, we might have figured they were no better than local club standard. But Drinnen had to point out they were coming off an inactive period stretching back to last September because of the winter season.

"What we've been doing is building up. We've been learning about the conditions," the coach said. "A lot of the players haven't played here before, so our lengths and lines vary from British conditions. We've learnt about that."

For the World Cup, Scotland will have warm-up matches against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh at the 3Ws Oval and for the competition itself, they will be based in St Kitts where they will meet Australia, South Africa and Holland.

Conditions are likely to be slightly different from what they meet at the 3Ws Oval, Weymouth and Windward, but the experience would put them in good stead. By the time the World Cup comes around, they would have had considerable preparation.

After this trip, they have a host of opportunities, Intercontinental Cup matches, leading up to tournaments in Kenya and United Arab Emirates early next year. They will also welcome a recent decision by the ICC to increase the programme of ODIs for the associate members who are competing in the World Cup, and among the assignments for Scotland will be a home series against Pakistan.

"The ICC is delighted to be able to announce such a dramatic increase in the number of ODI matches to be played by these associate member countries," said ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed. "It is essential that their top players are exposed to regular competitive international cricket if they are to continue to develop and this is a very significant step in the right direction."

"We in this part of the world won't know too much about cricket in Scotland, but the game is surely developing. There is a considerable amount of cricket played in Scotland which is not realised around the world," Drinnen said. "We've got more cricketers in Scotland than rugby players. We have a major domestic league in the premier division and two other divisions under that. Outside that, we have many other regional leagues that operate.

"With the extended playing calendar for the national team, cricket has grown considerably over the last three to four years in the country. It really is progressing. There is more cricket than what people realise in the country."