Looking forward to flying the Saltire

Source: Rampant Lion     Date: May 25, 2003

Cricket: Development both for the team and the wider game is a big task but a great start makes a huge difference to our prospects. 

Straight from the moment the notion was first suggested that I might be interested in joining Scotland's players during their debut season in the National Cricket League, I have to admit the prospect intrigued me. And now I am on the verge of flying over to Scotland for the first time since I was there with an Indian youth development squad in the early 1990s. I really can't wait to play with the Saltires, especially given the terrific results they have achieved in the opening few weeks of the NCL.

To be frank, I had mixed emotions about the challenge after keeping tabs on the match against Somerset, which I followed on the internet. Because, make no mistake, that was the kind of amazing result which made me wonder if I would even manage to force my way into the team! Seriously, the outcome of that contest, where the Saltires successfully chased an imposing target of 180 in just 15 overs, was proof that the newcomers deserve to be treated as a genuine force, and I honestly think even the World Cup-winning Australians would have been proud to achieve victory in those circumstances, faced with the pressure of chasing 12 runs an over.

I might not have been there in person, but I was with the Scots in spirit every step of the road, and by the climax, I wanted Ryan Watson to reach his century as much as anybody, not least as a tribute to the outstanding fashion in which he paced his innings, dug himself in, then started crashing boundaries to every corner of the ground.

Perhaps that outcome showed how dramatically cricket is changing and expanding across the globe, and thank heavens if it opens up new horizons. We saw that trend during the World Cup where Kenya advanced from the ÒSuper SixesÓ and reached the semi-finals, and proved that emerging nations can prosper in any company if they have the right mental toughness and ability to thrive under pressure, even without the benefit of so-called superstars in their ranks.

But the first two games in the NCL, which brought wins over Durham and Somerset, also illustrated the qualities I have noticed during my previous visits to Scotland [in 1989 and 1991], the courage, the character and never-say-die spirit. These are exactly the things that will be required over the next few years if the team are to clamber on to the one-day Test circuit.

Obviously, I haven't met Craig Wright or his players. I will be doing so at a dinner in Glasgow on Friday, prior to getting down to the serious business of playing my first match against Hampshire in Edinburgh next Sunday. But I'm already pretty positive about where they should be aiming, both this season and in the longer term. Clearly, there is still some distance to travel before Craig, Ryan and the rest of the Saltires squad are in any pos ition to make as big an impression on the world stage as the Kenyans, but I'm convinced they should be thinking about upping the ante and preparing for admission to the ODI structure within the next five or six years. In fact, this is one of the main motivations in my coming to Scotland and committing myself to spending the summer there: not simply to turn up every morning before the 12 matches and then vanish immediately afterwards, but to play my part in spreading the gospel behind the scenes as well.

During my journeys here as a teenager Ð I turned 30 in January, but the memory of how beautiful Edinburgh was remains etched firmly in my mind Ð it often struck me that cricket was far more pop ular among Scots than it was given credit for in the newspapers, and it was almost like some secret pastime, happening in the background of every town and city.

Mercifully, I gather that the amount of media coverage has changed for the better, especially since the 1999 World Cup, but I'm keen to help in the process of coaching youngsters, taking practice sessions up and down Scotland, and passing on my sincere belief that there is no compelling reason why the Scots can't become a credible part of some two-tier international Test structure in the future and produce world-class players if they encourage the game at grassroots, and chase the dream while keeping their eyes on the ball. It's not rocket science, but then again, laying down the foundations for this progress won't be done in a month or a summer.

The ICC are certainly working on the basis that countries such as Scotland, Holland and Ireland, have big ambitions and realise the potential for making the transition from an amateur level to professionalism. I agree with that argument, but feel the governing body have to offer more than optimistic words and grand schemes over the next decade.

We've seen what has happened to Bangladesh after being fast-tracked to Test status Ð where they have slumped to one depressing defeat after another Ð and it doesn't need a genius to understand that you can't expect the newcomers to flourish in the big time overnight.

Thus, in my opinion, it's very much the responsibility of the ICC to provide the required resources, and if that entails digging into the coffers and supplying extra money, so be it. The bottom line is that these transformations can't be rushed, and that's why the Scots have probably gone down the correct road by lobbying for admission to the NCL over the next three years.

It's great they have proved they can be competitive so quickly, but the trick will be for them to keep learning, to analyse their defeats and fathom what went wrong, and to appreciate that no country, be it India, Pakistan or the West Indies, has ever hit the ground running with world-beating teams after arriving as regular members on the Test circuit.

The Saltires will also discover, I suspect, that success can be a double-edged sword. My second scheduled appearance is against Pakistan in Glasgow on June 7, but whereas in the past, the tourists might have been inclined to treat this fixture as a fairly gentle training session, that won't be the case this time around.

The World Cup has raised the bar, and the news will have filtered back to Shoaib Akhtar and company that the Scots have started beating English counties on a fairly regular basis. Hence, while that stride forward is definitely a bonus, it brings its own pressures as well, and I'm sure Craig Wright wouldn't wish it to be otherwise.

Ultimately, I will be glad when the talking stops and I have a bat in my hand and am walking out to face Hampshire. I gather Sky TV will be screening the whole contest live, and that my old sparring partner, Wasim Akram, one of the biggest personalities in the history of cricket, might well be waiting round the corner for me at The Grange.

It sounds like the ideal start to what I hope will turn into an exciting, successful summer for myself and the Saltires.