Scotland call up county players Michael Jones and Stu Whittingham for World Cup bid

County players Michael Jones and Stu Whittingham have been drafted into the squad for the second phase of Scotland’s World Cup League Two campaign.

Scotland head coach Shane Burger. Picture: SNS

The Scots take on United Arab Emirates and the United States in two double headers in Sharjah and Dubai next month and coach Shane Burger has made three changes from the squad which recently qualified for the T20 World Cup, with Grange batsman Dylan Budge also coming in.

Durham batsman Jones, 21, won his last cap in March 2018 while Whittingham has not played for Scotland for almost two years following an injury-plagued first season with Gloucestershire.

Burger said: “We have picked a squad that has a blend of both youth and experience. Our focus will be looking to be successful as well as having an eye on the future of Scottish cricket. It will be a great challenge returning to the UAE and we have a good feel of the conditions and grounds we will be playing at, having just returned from our successful T20 World Cup Qualifier campaign.”

Scotland need to finish in the top three of the seven-team League Two – being played from 2019-2022 – to reach the qualifying tournament for the 2023 World Cup.

They suffered a shock defeat to Oman in the first round of matches in Aberdeen during the summer but recovered with three wins to share top spot with the Omanis, Namibia and USA.

Scotland squad:

Kyle Coetzer (capt), Richie Berrington, Dylan Budge, Matthew Cross, Josh Davey, Alasdair Evans, Michael Jones, Calum MacLeod, George Munsey, Safyaan Sharif, Hamza Tahir, Craig Wallace, Mark Watt, Stuart Whittingham.

Fixtures:

9 Dec: USA v Scotland (Sharjah)

11 Dec: UAE v Scotland (Sharjah)

14 Dec: USA v Scotland (Dubai)

15 Dec: UAE v Scotland (Dubai)