Young guns aim high

SCOTLAND cricket captain Ryan Watson believes his side will enter the action on a new high when they contest the European Championships in Ireland, starting on Friday.

In the absence of Watson and several other experienced players unable to travel to North America for the recent Inter-Continental Cup clashes with Bermuda and Canada, the Scots, nevertheless, excelled in picking up a win double.

Watson says: "We have just shown there is more depth to Scottish cricket than for some time with younger players taking their chance with both hands.

"After years of building a side around the likes of myself, Craig Wright, Paul Hoffman and so on, others are now knocking on the door."

Injuries and work commitments mean Scotland shake up their squad again for a tournament that sees them open against Italy before playing Denmark (Saturday) and Norway (Monday).

Immediately afterwards come potentially stiffer challenges against Netherlands (Tuesday) and Ireland (Thursday) with both carrying full one-day status.

"Our opening three games are possible banana skins and, in a sense, roles are reversed compared with when we play the (full-time] English counties.

"On occasions we beat them so we have to show all opponents respect. That is especially important as the ICC are set to award Scottish cricket extra funding which might go towards allowing six or seven youngsters a professional contract, so we need to demonstrate momentum in continuing to take the game forward."

"Scotland have never won the European Championships so that will be another incentive."

Immediately the competition ends, the Scots will be involved in trying to qualify for next year's World twenty:20 cup in England.

Watson says: "We reached the final stages last time and also won through to the last World Cup in West Indies. The aim is to make it a hat-trick of qualifications."

Scotland returned from the Inter-Continental Cup with injuries to Gordon Goudie and Colin Smith while it appears up-and-coming seamer Calum MacLeod may also be doubtful.

"It's disappointing to have question marks over the fitness of some players. As for Calum, he is highly-rated at Warwickshire where he is currently playing and proving himself a pretty handy batsman also. He is typical of the younger players coming through and in the middle you have the likes of Neil McCallum (Grange). I'll be looking for Macca to act as a bridge between the youngsters and the guys who have been around a while."

Meanwhile, former Scotland captain and current under-19 coach Craig Wright, speaking about increased funding, has told BBC Scotland: "As of January next year the amount of funding we get from the ICC trebles, which will be a massive bonus.

"One thing we have really struggled with is moving towards making the senior team professional.

"We are playing a lot of games against professional players but I'm not saying at the flick of a switch everyone will become professional but it will allow some contracts for younger players."

Scotland squad for the European Championships: Ryan Watson (captain, Forfarshire); Richie Berrington, Sean Weeraratna (both Greenock); John Blain (Rotherham); Gordon Drummond (Watsonians); Gordon Goudie (West of Scotland); Majid Haq, Omer Hussain (Ferguslie); Calum MacLeod (Warwickshire); Gregor Maiden, Neil McCallum (Grange); Glenn Rogers (Stenhousemuir); Qasim Sheikh (Clydesdale); Colin Smith (Aberdeenshire).