Cricket: Saltires’ victory will inspire young Scots in World Cup

That’s the view of in-form Barclays Wealth Grange batsman Henry Edwards who is also keen use the tournament, which pitches Scotland in a  section alongside Pakistan, New Zealand and Afghanistan, to showcase his talents for a professional career.

He said: “The Saltires’ win over Bangladesh shows what can be done and with similar self-belief maybe we can demonstrate what an associate cricketing nation can do at our level also.”

Henry, who is studying sports coaching and PE at Oxford Brookes University and was a promising rugby player with representative honours to his name. said: “I have set my sights on a career in cricket and the fact I sustained a bad shoulder injury playing rugby maybe turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as it meant I didn’t have to choose between the two sports.”

“I played stand-off for Edinburgh at age-group level alongside Sam Hidalgo Clyne (a new Murrayfield elite development player) but the upside of my injury is that I am now totally focused on cricket.”

Henry hit a maiden Scotland under-19 century – 123 off 104 balls – against Northern Universities in a warm-up game last week, while he smacked 41 to help Grange to victory in the Eastern Premiership at Stoneywood Dyce on Saturday.

“I have had a lot of help from Grange, but mostly from Fettes College coaches Bruce Russell and Chris Thomson,” he added.

“My career best innings of 147 came in a school match for Fettes where my dad is headmaster of the prep school. Against Papua New Guinea in one of the qualifying matches last year we were suffering a bit of a hiccup. I was fortunate to come in and hit 62 (off 43 balls) and that helped us continue building momentum.

“Since then the team has been playing around the country and weather interruptions proved frustrating. But our build-up has gone well with Simon Smith (Grange wicket-keeper) providing strength and conditioning programmes and we can’t wait to get on the plane and show what we can do.”

Others in the squad include Penicuik’s Freddie Coleman, who has already represented the Saltiers, Watsonian seamer Paddy Sadler who captains the side and Heriot’s batsman,  Peter Ross.

Squad: Paddy Sadler (Captain) (Watsonians & Cambridge MCCU), Matthew Cross (Vice Captain) (Nottinghamshire & Loughborough MCCU), Aman Bailwal (Forfarshire), Freddie Coleman (Warwickshire & Oxford MCCU), Henry Edwards (Grange & Oxford MCCU), Nick Farrar (Stirling County), Gavin Main (Uddingston & Durham Academy), Tom McBride (Dumfries), Scott McElnea (Ayr), Ross McLean (Arbroath), Sam Page (Clydesdale), Peter Ross (Heriot’s and Kinross), Kyle Smith (West Lothian), Ruaidhri Smith (Glamorgan), Andrew Umeed (West of Scotland).

Fixtures: August 12: New Zealand v Scotland (John Blanck Oval, Sunshine Coast). August 13: Pakistan v Scotland (Kev Hackney Oval, Sunshine Coast). August 15: Afghanistan v Scotland (John Blanck Oval, Sunshine Coast)