Lions and U19s prepare for Europe
With the spotlight off Scotland's senior national cricketers for a few weeks, attention turns to the progress and fortunes of the next generation. The Scotland Lions and Scotland U19 fixture schedules are particularly busy this year, with the Lions once again taking part in the English County 2nd XI Championships and preparing for the European A-Team Championships, while the U19 squad have a chance to take the first step in qualifying for the bi-annual U19 World Cup in Jersey in a month's time.
Andy Tennant, head coach of the Scotland Lions, says: "Everyone now agrees that the key to Scotland's future at international level lies with these groups of players, and we aim to give them the vital experience they need before they perform at the top level.
"This is our third season playing in the County 2nd XI Championship. We've had our successes, and we aim to become more consistent in our performances, to secure our presence in this tournament. We caught a glimpse of the challenges ahead when we played England's U18s a couple of weeks ago."
The Lions season starts with a significant challenge, as the Lions play the Yorkshire 2nd XI over three days this week at Weetwood, Leeds. The 12-man squad, all of whom will play, is: Richie Berrington (c), Ewan Chalmers, Stuart Chalmers, Omer Hussain, Moneeb Iqbal, Dougie Lockhart (w), Ross Lyons, Matthew Parker, Willie Rowan, Qasim Sheikh, Ryan Watson, Sean Weeraratna.
The Lions' schedule for the remainder of the season is as follows:
Tue-Thu 16-18 June Yorkshire 2nd XI v Scotland Lions at Weetwood, Leeds
Tue-Thu 23-25 June Scotland Lions v MCC at Ayr
Wed 1 July Scotland Lions v Scotland U19s at Uddingston
Thu 9 July Scotland Lions v Scotland U19s at Uddingston
Tue-Thu 14-16 July Derbyshire v Scotland Lions at Glossop
Tue-Thu 28-30 July Lancashire v Scotland Lions at Blackpool
Thu 6 August Scotland Lions v Star Club of India at Titwood, Glasgow
Tue-Thu 11-13 August European A-Team Championships in the Netherlands
Tue-Thu 25-27 August Leicestershire v Scotland Lions at TBA
Tue-Thu 1-3 September Nottinghamshire v Scotland Lions at Cleethorpes
Meanwhile, Craig Wright, head coach of Scotland's U19 squad (who last week announced his retirement as an international player) has assembled an equally daunting series of challenging matches for his squad.
“Our ambition is to put in place a structure which will speed up the development of our best young players and produce more mature cricketers at an early age. I believe that the majority of learning takes place on the field, so our fixture programme against senior opposition in the SNCL and other tough supplementary games is vital.
"It is also fantastic to see virtually the entire U19 squad playing regular SNCL first-team cricket for their clubs, and being successful, which I am not sure would have been the case a few years ago. They have a wonderful opportunity this year to progress and be able to test their skills against their peers through the World Cup qualifying process, and then if we are good enough in the full World Cup early next year”.
Already, many of the U19 squad have been impressing. After spending the winter as the first intake of the cricket development course at Telford College, Edinburgh, including three months playing and training in Sydney, the youngsters have won five of their nine matches so far against Lloyds TSB Scotland Premier League opposition, and came close in others.
Pace bowler Matthew Parker has already been capped for Scotland at senior level, while Ewan Chalmers scored a century against Watsonians, and Marc Petrie, Calvin Burnett and Willie Rowan have had outings with the Scotland Lions.
The U19 match schedule for the rest of the season is as follows:
Mon-Fri 22-26 June U19 Durham Hilton Tournament at Longhirst Hall
Wed 1 July Scotland U19s v Scotland Lions at Uddingston
Sun 5 July SNCL Premier Division FS McCrea West v Scotland U19s at Hamilton Crescent, Glasgow
Thu 9 July Scotland U19s v Scotland Lions at Uddingston
Tue-Mon 14-20 July U19 European Championships and U19 World Cup Qualifier at Jersey, Channel Islands
Mon 27 July Scotland U19s v MCC at TBA
Mon 3 August Scotland U19s v Star Club of India at Myreside, Edinburgh
Tue 4 August Scotland U19s v Star Club of India at Goldenacre, Edinburgh
