Capital cricketers embark on World Cup warm-up

Four cricketers who ply their trade in the Capital set off today with their Scotland Under-19 team mates on a World Cup adventure.

Scotland co-coach Cedric English

The squad are off to Sri Lanka first for a couple of warm-up matches and then they will head to Bangladesh for the main 50-over event on January 20.

There they will play Group A matches against Namibia (January 29), Bangladesh (January 31) and South Africa (February 2).

Mazars Grange trio Harris Aslam, Fin McCreath and Simon Whait are in the 15-strong squad along with Heriot’s spinner Ryan Brown.

Brown, 19, impressed during the qualifiers in Jersey last summer and said: “As a team we all get on really well which helped us to get the win against Ireland in the final qualifying match when we really needed it.

“We have a good time out in the field even if things aren’t going our way.

“It’s going to be a difficult time at the World Cup and it’s important that we realise that as we will be coming up against some top quality opposition.

“However, we have great belief in each other and we want to go out there and show people what we can do.”

The group is coached by Carlton’s Gordon Drummond and SMRH’s Cedric English, both former Scotland caps, and the boys really enjoy working with the duo.

Batsman McCreath, 17, said: “Gordon and Cedric are great coaches with a lot of experience that they try and share with us.

“They let us have a lot of responsibility outside of the game when on tour which helps a lot in helping us mature as cricketers.

“The training sessions are a great challenge and they make it that way to improve us, asking us questions along the way so that we understand our game better.”

Spiner Aslam and wicketkeeper Whait have both spent time over the winter abroad preparing for this tournament.

Aslam was in Pakistan for three months, returning in late December, while Whait is currently in Australia and will be linking-up with the squad from there.

Coach Drummond said: “The players are aware the challenge now is to convert all the good work they have done in the last few months into the competitive environment.”

Scotland Under-19 squad: Neil Flack (captain), Harris Aslam, Ryan Brown, Scott Cameron, Harris Carnegie, Mohammad Azeem Dar, Mohammad Ghaffar, Rory Johnston, Ihtisham Malik, Fin McCreath, Mitchell Rao, Owais Shah, Simon Whait, Jack Waller, Ben Wilkinson.