Familiar tale against counties as the Saltires fail to develop

Played five, won one, lost four. It’s an all too familiar inventory of failure. The Saltires’ CB40 campaign has once again been characterised by a series of deflating defeats to English county opposition. A Duckworth/Lewis win over Surrey at Raeburn Place is scant consolation. The margins of defeat in the two most recent games – 89 runs at home to Hampshire and eight wickets with six overs to spare against Durham at Chester-le-Street on Sunday – were especially chastening and make a mockery of young keeper Craig Wallace’s claim that they only need to find another five per cent. No. It’s a lot, lot more.

Atypically, the main Scottish problem has not been the batting, but the bowling. The seamers especially have lacked any penetration. Durham’s 200 without loss in just 25 overs courtesy of Michael Stoneman and Phil Mustard, albeit on a belter of a flat deck, epitomises the current malaise. In fairness, chief selector Iain Kennedy can point to a series of injuries to our young quicks. Ex-Dunfermline fast bowler Safyaan Sharif burst thrillingly on to the scene last summer but an injury sustained at the ICC T20 World Cup qualifiers in Dubai has failed to respond to treatment. Forfarshire’s promising Matty Parker has only just returned after a hip operation and ex-Middlesex man Gordon Goudie’s cracked rib continues to keep him on the sidelines.

A reliable mid-innings bowling partner for off-spinner Majid Haq (“a genuine class act”, says Kennedy) is an further unaddressed issue. A quality left-arm spinner would be ideal, but neither last year’s overseas hired hand, Kiwi George Worker, nor this year’s recruit Jean Symes – despite a fine Chester-le-Street century – have delivered here. South African Symes’ 20 overs in the CB40 have yielded 122 runs for just two wickets. Preston Mommsen, whose one profligate over against Durham cost 20, continues to develop with the bat, but has failed to kick on as a front-line spinner.

There a few positives, though. Middlesex all-rounder Josh Davey has a good, lively action and a fine, athletic follow-through. Greenock’s Richie Berrington, like Davey primarily regarded hitherto as a batsman, can be deceptively nippy as a seamer. Some hope also resides, albeit much further down the line, in a crop of uncapped youngsters.

Ayr teenager Scott McElnea, who took six wickets on Saturday in the CSL against Clydesdale, impressed sufficiently with national under-19s to merit a call-up to the Scottish Lions against Warwickshire last month. Stirling County’s Josh Edwards made his mark with ball and bat in winning the man of the match award for a Scottish Development XI against a strong Durham Academy outfit. Uddingston’s Gavin Main has been on trial at Durham and seamer Gavin Smith has had favourable reports at West of Scotland.

They, however, are very much for the future.

“A tough day in the field today. Learned a lot of lessons, and we will come back”, tweeted opening bowler Ali Evans of Sunday’s ordeal, as the Durham Dynamos made light work of the Saltires’ seemingly competitive 258. Precisely what has been learned may become apparent in this weekend’s double-header against Surrey and the Nottinghamshire Outlaws.