Hairs nets chance to end his season on a high with Saltires

The 19-year-old left-handed opening batsman has been called into the 13-man Scottish Saltires squad for the final CB40 matches away to Durham and Warwickshire on Sunday and Monday respectively.

If he plays in either match, which he seems certain to do, it will be his first action against an English county side and will test his hard-hitting style against some of the best bowlers in England such as Steve Harmison.

And he may head into the two matches on a high if his club Grange can clinch the SNCL Premier Division title with a win away to Forfarshire today. Indeed it says something for his talent that he is likely to end the season as Grange's top run scorer, especially given the strength of their batting line-up.

Going into today's club match he has 590 league runs to his name in 2010, while the experience he gained while playing for Scotland just days after his school exams earlier in the year at the World Cricket League in the Netherlands will have been good for him.

Elsewhere in the squad another opening batsman, Ryan Flannigan of Watsonians, keeps his place and he will feel that a couple of solid showings will edge him closer to being a permanent member of the national team.

Flannigan and Hairs will see the way that fellow young player Matthew Parker has cemented his place in the side in all forms of the game over the last few months as an example they would like to follow.

The experienced Neil McCallum also returns to the middle order having tested out his injured achilles in Grange's league run-in, while Australian George Bailey plays his last matches for the Saltires.

For tomorrow's match, Durham coach Geoff Cook has added Scott Borthwick and Mark Davies to the squad that defeated Warwickshire last weekend, while Scotland's own Kyle Coetzer is also in their 13-man party.

Both sides defeated the Saltires easily at Titwood four weeks ago. Warwickshire top the group but Durham, like the Saltires, have no chance of progressing.

Scottish Saltires: Gordon Drummond, George Bailey, Richie Berrington, Ryan Flannigan, Gordon Goudie, Oli Hairs, Majid Haq, Moneeb Iqbal, Dougie Lockhart, Ross Lyons, Neil McCallum, Matthew Parker, Fraser Watts.