Paul Hoffmann: English to fill the void?

So, who’s going to fill the void left by Gavin Hamilton’s retirement? A number of names have been thrown about. Maybe Ewan Chalmers could become a regular pick, or possibly youngsters like Ryan Flannigan or Oli Hairs. What about a wildcard - someone like hard-hitting Graham McLaren of Drumpellier, who has been consistently scoring runs for years at club level?

For me, though, the best batsman in Scotland is Cedric English. He retired from Scotland duties in 2006 for study reasons, but remains a prolific run-scorer for Carlton. Cedric is a proper first-class bat. I know this when I bowl to him, because the margin for error is so small. If your line is an inch wide either way, then he pounces. If your length is a tad short, he will slap you over square leg. Full, and he will smash you.

There’s nothing unorthodox about Cedric’s batting. He is technically correct and plays every shot in the book. When we played together for Scotland in the 2005 World Cup Qualifiers, Cedric won more Man-of-the-Match awards than any other player. Understandably, he had his reasons for retiring, but Scotland have certainly missed him. I also think Cedric is a better batsman now than he was five years ago. He has more patience at the crease, knows his game inside out and can adapt quickly to all conditions.

A couple of games ago, Cedric scored an unbeaten 148 against my team Uddingston on a seaming deck at Carlton. He never offered a chance. Last Saturday, he belted 146 at Mannofield. If he hadn’t been struggling for injury for the first part of the summer, then he would have scored 1000 runs - easy.

I believe Cedric is the perfect replacement for Gavin Hamilton. Cedric will bring solidity and experience to our top order. He could easily bat at three with Richie Berrington at four. Gavin Hamilton has been our most consistent top order batsman of recent times, while Neil McCallum has continually saved Scotland’s bacon with some vital Michael Hussey-type knocks in the middle order. Richie Berrington aside, no other batsmen has been able to score enough runs to establish a regular place in the team.

Critics will say he’s too old, but at 37 Cedric can still give another two or three years to Scotland if required. He may not be the most sprightly in the field, but more importantly he has a safe pair of hands. Age shouldn’t matter a jot. He’s our best bat and Scotland would be better off with him in the team.

Congratulations to Grange, Arbroath and Dumfries for winning the leagues this year. Considering Grange didn’t have a pro until the last half of the season and were without Mike Powell for much of the campaign, they fully deserved their title. Along with a full strength Carlton, Grange have the best batting line-up out of all the teams I played against this year. However, their match-winners are more often than not the old stalwarts like Stuart Davidson, Andy Wilson and Sanjay Patel.

Speaking of old stalwarts, special mention must go to Arbroath’s Benny McGill, who again starred for the Lichties in their win over Heriot’s. Arbroath were down and out until Benny came in at number nine and tonked a quick 50. Whether with bat or ball, Benny always delivers for Arbroath in the big games. How he never got a Scotland call up over the past 15 years is beyond me, because the bloke is a class act.

1 September 2010