Sandy Strang: Bat to the future for Scotland’s rising stars

“The opportunities are there. Show your mettle, and you can force your way in” – Iain Kennedy, Cricket Scotland’s forthright, impassioned chairman of selectors last night delivered a call to arms to the country’s young cricketers as the clock runs down on a rain-ravaged season.

And Kennedy continued: “As the established old guard have been gradually retiring – proven performers like Ryan Watson, Colin Smith, Paul Hoffman, Gavin Hamilton, and, more recently, Dougie Lockhart and Neil McCallum – we’ve been carefully assembling a new squad which can take us on to a new and higher level and, just as important, keep us there.

“This isn’t merely about finding the right personnel with the talent and the commitment to make an impact. It’s also about embracing a new, tougher, more competitive, professional culture, and getting the emergent players to buy into this. We’ve made a decent start in this direction, but we’re only halfway there.

“Results this summer have been very encouraging. In our CB40 campaign skipper Gordon Drummond’s team have won twice, and, notwithstanding Monday’s Hampshire debacle with a much weakened side, we’ve generally been highly competitive against quality English county opposition.

“We’ve beaten old adversaries Ireland, currently ranked number ten in the world and top Associate nation, and recent conquerors of England in the World Cup. We’ve beaten the Dutch twice, and our Intercontinental Cup effort is on track. But it’s really just a start on a long but potentially very fruitful journey.

“There has never been a better time to be a Scottish international cricketer, with a raft of ODIs, a T20 World Cup, and a four-day ICC campaign all on the immediate horizon. My message is primarily directed at a group of young guns, most of whom have already had a brief taste of life at the top, to regalvanise their efforts and demonstrate that they have the hunger and the desire to push their way into the squad.

“I’m talking about the likes of emergent batters such as Olly Hairs, Ewan Chalmers, Freddie Coleman, and Ryan Flannigan, and uncapped Aberdeenshire seam bowler Tyler Buchan. The two young wicketkeepers, Forfarshire’s Craig Wallace, who made his Saltires debut this week at the Rose Bowl, and Marc Petrie, last capped in May 2010, are another couple in the same category. We need them to stake some forceful claims.

“They, and others, need only look at two outstanding current examples of lads who have lately cemented key slots in the side. Carlton’s Preston Mommsen has been a revelation in our middle order, whilst Dunfermline Knights’ quickie Safy Sharif has looked a quality player from the very first day he joined Head Coach Peter Steindl’s squad.

“I’m also throwing down the gauntlet to the even younger lads currently just below the Saltires radar to fast-track themselves into the senior reckoning. Just ask our head of performance Andy Tennant, and he’ll tell you there are some genuine potential stars ready to emerge from Craig Wright’s under-19 squad, who’ve just qualified for the 2012 World Cup in Queensland. Lads like Heriot’s and ex-Kinross all-rounder Peter Ross, if they can continue their present rate of development, can also soon be knocking on the door.”

Next up for Scotland is a tour of Namibia from 23 September to 5 October, incorporating an Intercontinental Cup four-dayer, two ICC One-Day League 50-over games, and five T20s.

The message from Kennedy is clear and unequivocal: show the hunger, deliver, and you can be an integral part of a highly exciting future.