Building Scots eye maiden World Cup win

Being mobbed by fans, posing for selfies and signing autographs are part and parcel of life as a professional cricketer in Test-playing nations.

For Scotland’s players, the chance to play on cricket’s biggest stage will be a stark difference to life back home, where the sport does not garner the sort of attention commanded by football and rugby. 

But Scotland captain Preston Mommsen hopes the country’s third ICC Cricket World Cup appearance will change that.

"Since qualifying for the World Cup I think things have increased in terms of profile and recognition,” Mommsen, 27, said.

"You get the feeling people are more interested in the sport, which is crucial for us.

"As players we know we have a huge responsibility in terms of putting in a good performance to give ourselves a good name and really prove that Scottish cricket is a force to be reckoned.

"We want to inspire young Scottish people to want to get into cricket and see the potential opportunities that are available to a cricketer in Scotland."

Mommsen, a South African native who moved to Edinburgh on a scholarship and went on to forge an international cricket career in his adopted nation, was named full-time Scotland captain last September.

First on the agenda for his team when it kicks off its World Cup campaign on February 17 will be earning a coveted first win in the tournament.

In Scotland’s previous appearances in 1999 and 2007, they played a total of eight matches but were defeated on each occasion.

This time, Scotland heads into the tournament with a squad of professional players, many of whom are signed to county teams in England.

Under the guidance of coach Grant Bradburn, who took over last April, and mentor Paul Collingwood, Scotland has been training hard since qualifying for the tournament in early 2014, touring Australia and New Zealand during September and October last year before playing a tri-series against Ireland and Afghanistan in Dubai last month.

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Scotland during their tour of NZ in October

"Grant’s put a stamp on things. We’ve had a few tours now with him and the guys are pretty much accustomed to his style of working and have taken a liking to it,” Mommsen said.

"He brings a very nice calmness to the players in the dressing room.

"We are progressing nicely with obviously the main eye on February when the World Cup kicks off, so hopefully we’re going to be peaking at the right time."

Last year’s tour of Australia and New Zealand was a valuable chance to acclimatise to Australia conditions, Mommsen said.

"We played against a lot of strong players and for us to have an insight into what to expect means we’re far better prepared," Mommsen said.

"It’s awesome for a team like Scotland to go to these cricket-mad countries because you’re walking down the street and people engage with you and want to know how you’re going.

"It’s awesome because it’s not something we’re very used to back in Scotland where cricket isn’t exactly the main sport.

"The people really welcomed us with open arms wherever we went, which was a very pleasing sign for us. Hopefully we’ll be second favourites wherever we go."

Mommsen said the Associate team was realistic about the quality of the opposition, but would draw inspiration from Ireland’s upset wins over Pakistan and England in the previous two tournaments.

"Scotland’s never won a game at the World Cup so for us that’s the number one goal," he said.

"But this is a very ambitious group of guys and we’re certainly targeting more than one win.

"There is history of minor nations beating full members. It’s about us putting in that sort of performance on the world stage as under pressure as they’ve managed to do."

Coach Bradburn agreed, saying Scotland were setting themselves high goals and had a team packed with enough natural ability to succeed.

"We've set some pretty lofty goals in terms of dominating Associate cricket and we’re moving our sights on to some of the top 10 nations,” Bradburn said in an interview with the ICC.

"They’re all hugely looking forward to the World Cup but they are also well aware we have a massive task on our hands aiming to do what no other Scotland team has done and win some games.

"We believe that skill-wise, there’s a massive amount of ability in this team but we’re also well aware we haven’t got the experience of every other side we will play against."

One player whose experience the team will be relying on is vice-captain Kyle Coetzer.

The 30-year-old batsman top-scored during the World Cup acclimatisation tour with 333 runs at 55.50 apiece, the highest tally of any player from the four qualifiers.

"We’ve got a good range of different styles of bowling and some guys who are bowling at a decent pace now,” Coetzer said in an interview with the ICC.

"We’ve got some very positive styles of batting and a good array of batting too. We’ve got a number of guys who are now able to take a game away from a team on any given day and are classed as match winners."

Scotland will play in Dunedin, Christchurch, Nelson and Hobart during the tournament, taking on Pool A teams Australia, England, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Matt Machan: Rated as a player to watch by captain Preston Mommsen, Matt Machan is a fiery batsman capable of scoring quickly and taking the game away from the opposition. He scored his first ODI century in June 2013 when he plundered 114 from 111 balls against Kenya and was in good form in January when he scored 86 against Ireland.

Josh Davey: Skilled with both bat and ball, Josh Davey was playing in only his fourth one-day international in 2010 when he blitzed Afghanistan, taking 5-9 in the best ODI bowling performance by a Scotsman. He was in fine form against the same opponent in January, taking 6-28 and scoring 53 not out to become only the second Associate player to achieve both a five-wicket haul and a fifty in the same ODI.

Preston Mommsen: Born in Durban, Mommsen represented South Africa school boys in both rugby and cricket. His sporting talent led to a scholarship in Scotland and after graduating he relocated permanently to his adopted country. At the qualifying tournament in New Zealand in January 2014 he scored 520 runs in eight innings and was named Player of the Tournament. His performances included 139 against United Arab Emirates in the final. Mommsen’s year to remember culminated in the batsman being named the 2014 ICC Associate and Affiliate Player of the Year, and captain of Scotland’s ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 squad.

Kyle Coetzer: He has built a reputation as one of Scotland’s most talented batsmen, scoring more than 700 runs in 20 ODIs. A highlight of the Aberdeen native’s career to date was a swashbuckling 133 against Afghanistan in March 2013, while he was also Scotland’s leading run scorer at the 2009 ICC World Twenty20. He also scored more than 300 runs during last year’s warm-up tour of Australia and New Zealand.

Majid Haq: Scotland’s most-capped player, Haq will provide much-needed experience. The off-spinner, who is also a hard-hitting batsman, played three matches at the 2007 World Cup and took 2-43 against South Africa.

Calum MacLeod: MacLeod started his cricket career as a fast bowler but suffered a major setback when his bowling action was reported after in Intercontinental Cup match in 2009. Not willing to give up his cricket dream, MacLeod decided to concentrate on his batting and forced his way back into the Scotland side as a batsman. He played a major role in helping Scotland qualify for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 in early 2014 when struck consecutive centuries - 113 from 62 balls against United Arab Emirates and 175 against Canada. 

SCOTLAND WORLD CUP FIXTURE

Tuesday, February 17: New Zealand v Scotland, University Oval, Dunedin

Monday February 23: England v Scotland, Hagley Oval, Christchurch

Thursday, February 26: Afghanistan v Scotland, University Oval, Dunedin

Thursday, March 5: Bangladesh v Scotland, Saxton Oval, Nelson

Wednesday, March 11: Sri Lanka v Scotland, Bellerive Oval, Hobart

Saturday, Match 14: Australia v Scotland, Bellerive Oval, Hobart