Keith Graham: Here's to the pairs of you

Keith Graham watches with pleasure the burgeoning development of pairs of young Scottish cricketers, effectively born and brought up in Scotland, and at last breaking through to the front rank of our squads...

I’ve discussed the notion of pairings before. Down the years, international cricket has been lit up by many famous pairings. Hobbs and Sutcliffe spring to mind, as do Hutton and Washbrook and there are many more, both as enduring batting partnerships but also as bowlers. Lindwall and Miller, Statham and Trueman, Laker and Lock and Ramadhin and Valentine were all dynamic pairings bowling in tandem, one perhaps sparking off the other; indeed very often, getting wickets for each other.

Scotland, too, in recent times, have had a pretty useful batting pairing in Philip and Patterson, probably by some measure the most successful opening partnership we have ever had. How different they were as individual players yet each clearly derived inspiration from the other. Philip, I always thought, was a stoical and clinical gatherer of runs whilst Patterson was always one for a challenge, pugnacious and equally determined to succeed.

Scotland are currently in a stage of transition, the old guard sometimes standing aside and the new young guard stepping in. That the ‘new’ Scotland so comprehensively triumphed in their Intercontinental Cup tie with Kenya in Nairobi is indeed a credit to the new brigade - albeit that, at the moment of victory, it was one of the old soldiers that was at the wicket, Douglas Lockhart, replete with an unbeaten half-century.

Of all the young batsmen coming through, however, much faith has been pinned upon Richie Berrington and Qasim Sheikh. In Nairobi, they were the two who really provided the backbone to Scotland’s first dig, Qasim recording a second successive Cup century and Richie going on to an excellent 80. Together they added 102 vital runs. They delivered, and I hope took an important step along the road to permanent places in the side and the planting of a long-standing partnership!

It could just be, therefore, that another of those lasting partnership is about to blossom. I am sure that the selectors would rejoice in that possibility, thus giving them the luxury of being able to ink in with certainty two key positions in the upper batting order.

Interestingly, I was in Qasim’s company during Scotland’s 1999 World Cup campaign. I had not seen him play at that time and some might have judged him to be a pretty precocious teenager. However, I liked his attitude. He was, no doubt about it, going to play for Scotland … fact. Later he did … fact.

Richie too has always had that same clear vision of his future. He also has the advantage of having come through the Tony Judd school which, above all, demands high expectations of one’s self. Now the talented Greenock youngster is starting to deliver. Between them this pair, in my opinion, could become the future linchpins of Scotland’s upper order.

But I have a notion, too, that there is an interesting bowling partnership developing. Ross Lyons and Majid Haq may well become an enduring spin-bowling partnership. Both, it seems to me, have grown in stature. Ross last year took on the role of professional at Carlton, thus accepting greater responsibility not just for his own game but by the nature of things, responsibility in terms of the team’s performance too.

Majid, by becoming one of just three full-time professionals in Cricket Scotland’s set-up, will also surely continue to improve and become a very important cog in the Scottish cricketing machine. Most importantly, this new status will surely lift both players’ confidence, such an important ingredient for success.

From the very outset, I had admired Majid’s variations as a spin bowler. In what I seem to recall was his first full game at Durham (and a winning one at that), all of us who were there will in particular remember his guile, his control and his well disguised arm ball, with great fondness.

Glenn Rogers is a fine bowler - and, indeed, an extremely valuable member of the national squad - but I would like to see Ross Lyons given a long run in the side against the counties, so that he can form a bowling partnership with Majid. It is an ideal combination of off-spin and left arm spin. And, by the way, both are more than useful performers with the bat! And they are both yet to reach their prime.

If their performances continue to blossom - and if the evidence of the recent narrow victory against Uganda is anything to go by, it is - then this pair could fill a very important role in the future. They provide perhaps a further indication that the new guard is slowly taking its place in the front rank, ushering in perhaps a new and hopefully a more successful era.

Partnerships of this kind are important in a team sense. The confidence they can generate together filters through the team and throughout the dressing room. They provide a more solid, consistent base. In short, they become reliable elements in the team. I hope Qasim and Richie and Ross and Majid can fulfil their promise and the faith that has been shown in them. If they do, then the future looks exceedingly bright.