In a sensational development that appeared to come out of the blue on Saturday afternoon Scotland’s cricketers were drafted into the finals of the World T20 tournament and put on course for a St Valentine’s Day showdown with England in Kolkatta.
The move follows the withdrawal of Bangladesh due to diplomatic tensions involving one of the two host countries – India; the otherhosts are Sri Lanka.
In these highly politicised circumstances the organisers moved swiftly with an invite to the Scots who had seemingly blown their chance when losing out in qualifying to Italy and the Netherlands to stand alongside other also rans Jersey and Guernsey.
It was thought coming up short had cost the Scots substantial sums of money; now they will be facing West Indies, Italy and Nepal as well as the auld enemy with a chance they might finish in the top two to reach the lucrative Super 8.
A squad is due to be announced within the next couple of days and the Scots are expected to fly out to India imminently and undertake a couple of warm up fixtures.
Trudy Lindblade, Cricket Scotland Chief Executive, said: “Earlier today I received correspondence from the ICC asking if our men’s team would play at the Men’s T20 World Cup, and we have accepted.
“We are grateful to the ICC for extending this invite. This is an exciting opportunity for Scotland’s players to compete on the global stage in front of millions of supporters. We also acknowledge this opportunity has arisen out of challenging and unique circumstances.
“Our squad have been training for some weeks in preparation for upcoming tours and are now preparing to arrive in India imminently to acclimatise to local conditions, ready to play and contribute to what should be a fantastic ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.”
Wilf Walsh, Cricket Scotland Chair said: “I welcomed a call from ICC Chair Jay Shah earlier today confirming that Scotland will receive an invitation to play at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. I was pleased to accept on behalf of our team, who are willing and ready to go.
“We thank the ICC for this opportunity and look forward to competing with some of the best sides in the world in India in the coming weeks.”
- The matches will be shown live on Sky Television.
