Cash crisis threatens to stump Scottish cricket

SCOTLAND’S cricketing coach has warned that the national team will be forced to withdraw from the English National League this summer if they fail to secure adequate funding at a meeting with sportscotland this week.

At the start of what should have been a watershed season, with Scotland lined up to play 18 matches against leading English county opposition, interim coach Tony Judd has warned that the team are now on the brink of pulling out of the limited-overs competition after failing to find any significant sponsors.

When the news broke that Scotland had been allowed entry to the old Norwich Union League for an initial three-year period, there were hopes that Scottish Cricket Limited could recruit world-class performers such as India’s Rahul Dravid and Pakistan’s Wasim Akram to bolster their home-grown pool.

But as matters stand, less than four months before the first scheduled match against Durham on 4 May, Scotland haven’t offered any of their leading players contracts, they have no permanent coach, and no cash to attract overseas Test stars.

Judd claims that unless sportscotland are prepared to step in with guarantees of financial backing at the 11th hour, the only realistic option is for the Scottish governing body to tell the ECB they lack the funding, estimated at 800,000, to make the step forward.

Judd, who will return to his club post at Greenock once the season starts, said: "I know the SCL aren’t swimming in cash at the moment. I’ve heard about this meeting with sportscotland and it seems a pretty straighforward conclusion that if there’s not a substantial offer of funding for the SCL, we won’t be in the National League come May.

"It’s disappointing, because we don’t just have the English counties to contend with, we also have the ICC qualifying tournament in Kenya in September for the next World Cup and that’s the most important of the lot. I’m more than slightly puzzled that things haven’t been sorted out before now."

Gwynne Jones, the SCL’s chief executive, has not given up hope but admitted to frustration at the current impasse.

"We are in a chicken-and-egg situation with would-be sponsors," said Jones. "We are asking them for support, but they are telling us that they want to see how the side gets on in the first year, which obviously doesn’t help us at all.

"I know there are negative people in Scotland expressing their view that we are not ready to meet the English counties on a regular basis, but my response is that we will never get anywhere if we adopt that kind of defeatist attitude.

"At this stage, I am still upbeat. Myself and the SCL chairman [Keith Oliver] will be going along to meet with [sportscotland’s chief executive] Ian Robson on Thursday and we will be spelling out the different case scenarios and emphasising the massive benefits for cricket of having 11 high-profile matches [nine in the National League, one in the C & G Trophy and a friendly against Pakistan Test] on home soil this year.

"But frankly, if we are to prepare for this properly, we need a leap of faith from Scottish business, because if our players aren’t contracted on a professional basis during the season, then you are asking these lads to consider taking around 40 days holiday to represent their country, which is patently an unsatisfactory state of affairs."