Urquhart to lead Scotland in Qualifiers

Scotland have made one change to their squad for the ICC World Cup qualifiers in South Africa next month from the one they had announced for the tournament in Pakistan last November with Caroline Heron being replaced by Paula Ritchie.

Heron underwent an operation and is not yet fit to make it to the squad. Vari Maxwell, who was part of the squad in November, will not be able to make it to South Africa because she is a Royal Navy employee and her ship is still at sea.

Fiona Urquhart will lead the side in what will be Scotland's first international tournament since July 2003 when they played in the International Women's Cricket Council Trophy in Netherlands. Six players from their last match of that tournament - Kari Anderson, Kathryn White, Fiona Campbell, Urquhart, Caroline Sweetman, Sahar Aslam - will be travelling to South Africa next month.

Scotland play their first game of the qualifiers against Zimbabwe on February 18 at the Van der Stel Cricket Club in Stellenbosch. "Qualifying for the World Cup would be an absolute dream for all the girls in the squad and, although this tournament is going to be very demanding, I don't think I'm being unrealistic in saying it's not out of our reach to qualify," said Urquhart.

Simon Smith, the Scotland men's side wicketkeeper, will coach the team for the tournament. "I'm very pleased to be working with Fiona and the girls in this adventure," said Smith. "They are all determined to do their level best to represent Scotland with some good performances. If they do succeed, it will be no more than they deserve."

Scotland squad:
Fiona Urquhart (c), Kari Anderson, Kathryn White, Charlotte Bascombe (wk), Abbi Aitken, Catherine Smaill, Fiona Campbell, Caroline Sweetman, Leigh Kasperek, Sahar Aslam, Charlotte Farr, Diane Pedgrift, Paula Ritchie