Cricket: Scotland name squad for Lord’s contest

Scotland yesterday named their squad to travel to Lord’s for the fixture against the MCC on Tuesday, 22 April.
Players from all the NatWest T20 Blast teams lineup at Edgbaston. Picture: GettyPlayers from all the NatWest T20 Blast teams lineup at Edgbaston. Picture: Getty
Players from all the NatWest T20 Blast teams lineup at Edgbaston. Picture: Getty

Calum MacLeod will captain the Scotland side on the hallowed turf in a match for which caps will be awarded to the Scots.

The match will be a 50-over contest and will be Scotland’s first match since defeating the United Arab Emirates to qualify for the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

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The Saltires will face two former Scotland internationals, Jamie Kerr and Gregor Maiden, who will be representing the MCC.

Preston Mommsen (pelvis) and Richie Berrington (hamstring) won’t feature as a precaution, which means there are places for under-19 players Mark Watt and Andrew Umeed, after both produced impressive performances during the 2014 ICC U19 World Cup.

MacLeod, who is currently on loan at Durham CCC, said: “It’s the first opportunity I’ve had to play at Lord’s, and obviously it will be a great honour.

“It will be an opportunity for some of the guys to push their case for our big game against England in Aberdeen on 9 May and one we’re all really looking forward to.”

Meanwhile, at the launch of the NatWest T20 Blast season, which begins on Friday, 16 May, Ben Stokes admitted he is learning the hard way, for the second time in his life, that he must keep his anger under control if he is to make the most of his outstanding natural talent.

The England all-rounder has had more than a month already to regret the flash of temper, after making a duck against West Indies in Bridgetown, that saw him lash out at a dressing-room locker and break a bone in his right wrist.

The 22-year-old has paid a significant price already, missing England’s ICC World Twenty20 campaign in Bangladesh and earning inevitable rebukes from team management – and his dad.

Nothing anyone said was more severe, though, than his own judgment – especially because this was a lesson he thought he had taken years ago.

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The stakes were not as high as missed international fixtures when a teenage Stokes had his previous argument with a fire door. But a broken bone back then too left him with time on his hands to ponder the error of his ways.

This time, he is determined there will be no more self- inflicted injuries.

“I don’t think punching lockers is the way forward,” said Stokes.

“There is only going to be one winner there.... it is on the pitch where I should be showing my emotions.

“Next time I look at a locker, I’ll know what it did to me.

“I just hope never again to show that kind of emotion off the field that results in an injury,” he added.

“But I definitely don’t want to lose that edge on the field.”