While club players and supporters obsess about their individual averages and the fortunes of their local team, they cannot have failed to notice the decline of the national team whose most recent defeats at the hands of Italy and Jersey this week means Scotland will miss out on playing for the fifth consecutive time in the finals of the World T20 next year, not to mention the small matter of around about a one million euros boost to the funds of Cricket Scotland.
Much of the prize money would of course have gone to keeping the squad competing at the highest level of the international game but some of it would certainly have filtered down to the grass roots, including the North East of Scotland.
And while it’s not my place to question what has gone wrong, there’s no question the lack of funding has seriously restricted Scotland’s ability to get about and play more cricket on the international stage. If you are not playing you are not developing.
We have the talent, we just need to ensure it is exposed to more competition.
In 1999 when some of the World ODI qualifying games were played at the Grange where Scotland made a good fist of their game against New Zealand, they missed a golden opportunity when they played Bangladesh. But they persevered and come June 10, 2018 they had proved they were ready for Test Match status after they thrilled the nation, again in Edinburgh where the stunned a full England team. The inclusion of Aberdeen boys, captain Kyle Coetzer, Matthew Cross and Michael Leask made the narrow but well earned win something special for those of us who made the trip from the Granite City.
It was certainly my biggest reporting thrill.
Some how Scotland has lost the place since then, but I contend they will be back, once they get the funding.
If I were to ask Lord Botham as I did at Mannofield in 2009 what Scotland needed to do to reach the heights of international cricket, the legend would not say, as he did then: ”get some better bloody weather,” but is more likely to suggest, we get a big sponsor. Not a bad idea; for while sport is not just about money, it helps to have some in your back pocket for emergencies just like the one Scotland are facing right now.
We would then all benefit, including clubs here in the North East.