Grant Bradburn legacy means Scotland post will attract top candidates

Three months after Grant Bradburn masterminded one of the great Scottish victories in any sport with a historic first-ever win over England it is no great surprise that he has been lured to work with one of the superpowers of '¨the game.

Grant Bradburn at the Grange, where he guided Scotland to victory over England in June in a one-day international. Picture: SNS

With no Andy Murray at Wimbledon through injury and, yet again, no Scotland at the football World Cup finals, June was lit up by that unforgettable day at the Grange when the world No 1 side 
England were humbled in a high-scoring and dramatic one-day international.

When the former New Zealand Test player arrived in the job four years ago he and his wife were surprised to find most of the people they met had no idea Scotland even had a cricket team.

The result, against an English side who promptly went on to thrash Australia 5-0, rang around the cricketing world and the man who had already led the Scots to some notable victories was bound to attract attention for his services and he will now join Pakistan as assistant coach with responsibility for 
fielding.

That is no surprise as it was a discipline he transformed with the Scots. It may sound strange from a game which yielded 736 runs but that famous win, which saw Scotland defend a record 371 for five on a batsman’s paradise, was built on sharp fielding at key moments.

Skipper Kyle Coetzer also credited the coach with instilling a new sense of mental strength and belief in the Scottish players.

The major disappointment from Bradburn’s tenure was that agonisingly unfortunate failure to reach next year’s ODI World Cup in England.

But, with T20 World Cup qualification on track and talk of a push for Full Member status with the ICC, Cricket Scotland is surely right when it describes the vacancy left by Bradburn as an extremely attractive one which is sure to be of interest to some very strong candidates.