Cricket: Scotland announce squad for World Twenty20 in England

Published on Wednesday 6 May 2009 10:20

Scotland have announced their 15-man squad for the World Twenty20 in England next month, with four changes from the recent World Cup qualifying event in South Africa.

Qasim Sheikh, Moneeb Iqbal and Calum MacLeod lose their places, along with the injured Gordon Goudie, while Fraser Watts, Gordon Drummond, Glenn Rogers and Richie Berrington are called up.

Former England and Yorkshire player Gavin Hamilton captains the team, who start their campaign with warm-ups against England at Trent Bridge on June 2 and the Netherlands at The Oval on June 3.

Their first group games are against New Zealand and South Africa on June 6 and 7, both at The Oval.

Chairman of selectors Iain Kennedy, said: "The selectors and the captain spent a considerable amount of time discussing the squad, as we must balance the longer-term development of the team alongside the need to perform well on the world stage in the shortest form of the game.

"We believe that Fraser and Richie will give us new batting options, as well as contributing significantly in the field, whilst Rogers and Drummond will offer variety to our attack.

"There were a number of very close decisions made about the personnel required for T20, and we are sure the selected squad will perform well against the best sides in the world."

Hamilton added: "This event will be a huge test for us all, playing some fantastic sides on the biggest stage cricket can offer.

"We have made some positive steps forward in the last couple of weeks and the full squad is looking forward enormously to testing ourselves against the world's best.

"It was pleasing that we had some difficult decisions to make, as this shows we have a number of players capable of playing at this level."

Scotland squad: Gavin Hamilton (captain), Richie Berrington, John Blain, Kyle Coetzer, Gordon Drummond, Majid Haq, Neil McCallum, Navdeep Poonia, Dewald Nel, Glenn Rogers, Colin Smith, Jan Stander, Fraser Watts, Ryan Watson and Craig Wright.