Cricket in Scotland

Cricket in Scotland
Cricket at Goldenacre in Edinburgh, with Edinburgh Castle as a backdrop
Country	Scotland
Governing body	Cricket Scotland
National team(s)	Scotland
Club competitions
Euro T20 Slam
International competitions
Under-19 Cricket World Cup

.

History

Cricket in Scotland is at least 225 years old. The first match for which records are available was played in September 1785 at Schaw Park,

in 1745; and it is no coincidence that the oldest known club is Kelso (records date back to 1820), in the Borders, then a garrison town. The origins of cricket in Perth, where cricket was also played at a very early stage, was also for the same reason.

In other areas, including the Borders of Scotland, the game seems to have been introduced by immigrant English workers in the paper, textile and iron industries, while in Edinburgh the game was taken up in the mid nineteenth century by the main Schools in the area, most prominently initially by the Royal High School & Edinburgh Academy.

The first representative game of any standing was in 1849, when the All England XI came to Edinburgh to play a 22-man team representing Scotland. This match provoked great interest and similar visits followed over the next few years, representative games also being played in other Cities & Towns. Scotland matches played on an eleven a side basis date from 1865, against a total of more than 30 countries, including all the Test-playing nations, and numerous other select teams, including, of course, the MCC. But the development of Scotland's international standing was more-or-less ignored for the best part of the 20th century, with three-day matches against Ireland, MCC, touring Test teams and the occasional County side being the only ones granted 'first-class' status.

In 1980, Scotland was invited to take part in England's

in Edinburgh.

Although failing to qualify for the

One-Day International

status.

In a halcyon period for the Scotland International side, they won the inaugural (three-day) ICC Intercontinental Cup in November 2004, and then the 2005 ICC Trophy in Dublin by beating old rivals Ireland, putting the Scots into 12th place in the global rankings. This gave Scotland qualification for the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies. Placed in the hardest Group, no successes were achieved in the Tournament and there was further disappointment at not achieving qualification for the 2011 World Cup.

The International teams then entered a transitional phase, with the retiral of several key players from the previous few years. It was 2011 before Scotland emerged with a fully competitive team, most notably winning four consecutive One Day Internationals against Afghanistan, Netherlands (twice) and Ireland. Following defeat by Sri Lanka, they continued a successful path by beating Northamptonshire and Warwickshire on consecutive days in the

Administration

The governing body for Scottish cricket is Cricket Scotland, which administers women's cricket and junior cricket as well as the men's game.

The then Scottish Cricket Union resigned from the UK Cricket Council in 1992, effectively severing links with the organisation of cricket in England and Wales. In 1994 Scotland became an Associate Member of the International Cricket Council.^[3]

Men's national team

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The

.

In 2003, the Scottish team was granted a place in the English national one day cricket league in the hope that playing against professional cricketers on a regular basis would improve the performance level of the best Scottish cricketers.

The

T20 World Cup tournaments, qualifying for the main round for the first time at the 2021 Tournament.

They have also qualified for the upcoming edition of the T20 World Cup which will be hosted by West Indies and United States in June 2024.

Domestic cricket

Amateur cricket leagues

Scotland has amateur cricket leagues held throughout the country which are ran by five associations:

• The East of Scotland Cricket Association - 9 leagues, 81 teams & a Sunday Development League ^[7]
• The Western District Cricket Union - 6 leagues, 57 teams & 2 Sunday Leagues, 13 teams ^[8]
• The Strathmore & Perthshire Cricket Union - 3 leagues, 28 teams & a Sunday Recreation & Development League ^[9]
• The North East Scotland Cricket SCIO - 3 "grades", 29 teams ^[10]
• The North of Scotland Cricket Association - 7 team Senior League & 9 team Development League ^[11]

In addition to leagues ran by the 5 associations, there is also the Eastern Premier League, which is a combined top level 10 team league for sides from East of Scotland Cricket Association and the Strathmore & Perthshire Cricket Union.

The Regional Series

The Regional Pro Series was first launched in 2016 replacing the North Sea Pro Series a competition which was a joint venture between the Royal Dutch Cricket Board and Cricket Scotland. It is Scotland's premier domestic competition. The tournament consists of three teams; Western Warriors, Eastern Knights and Caledonian Highlanders. Each team is based in a different region of Scotland.^[12]

Twenty20 cricket

The first season of the

Notable Scottish cricketers

One of the most notable cricketers in history was a Scot, born in India of Scottish parents,

He gave his own children Scottish names.

A number of other prominent

Another notable Scottish cricketer was

Donald Bradman

.

R. C. Robertson-Glasgow played for Oxford University and Somerset and later became a prominent cricket writer and correspondent. The South African-born former England captain Tony Greig also qualified to play for England due to his Scottish parentage.^[17]

Finally Scots have also played for other countries: Tom Campbell for South Africa^[18] and Archie Jackson for Australia.^[19]

References

Further reading