Scotland's World Cup journey may be over - but there is so much more left in tank

After Sunday’s loss to Pakistan signalled the completion of Scotland men’s T20 World Cup campaign, head coach Shane Burger stated “this is the end of the journey for us”.
Scotland qualified for the second phase of the T20 World Cup for the first time.Scotland qualified for the second phase of the T20 World Cup for the first time.
Scotland qualified for the second phase of the T20 World Cup for the first time.

However, the positivity surrounding a national team reaching the second phase of a global cricketing event for the first time can actually be the start of an exciting new journey and as Burger also said “we need to pounce on what has been created here”.

Everyone is in agreement that the opportunity must be grasped to take the sport at all levels in this country to new heights.

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Numerous things happened in the summer of 2018 after the Scottish men defeated England in a famous One Day International at The Grange in Edinburgh, which meant that momentum from that day could not be fully seized upon.

A few months later, then head coach Grant Bradburn stepped down from his role to take up a high-profile post with Pakistan and then the following summer the weather was not kind to Burger during his side’s first few home matches on his watch.

That meant that momentum was stunted a bit and although men’s T20 World Cup qualification was secured late in 2019, by the time the pandemic hit in March 2020, cricket was not a sport on everyone’s minds in this country.

Through the Covid times, Burger and his squad worked hard to keep their morale up while Mark Coles, a New Zealander with a good track record, was appointed as a full-time coach of the Scotland women’s team.

The summer of 2021 brought some promising results for the women, winning the European qualifier in Spain to progress to next year’s global qualifier where they will bid to make it to their own T20 World Cup, for example.

And club cricket seemed to thrive with people realising just how much they had missed looking out their whites each Saturday morning after effectively a year off in 2020 and the men’s team played out an entertaining T20 series with Zimbabwe in September at The Grange.

Fast forward a few weeks and cricket is certainly on people’s minds after watching Kyle Coetzer’s men playing with pride and passion out at the showpiece event in Oman and the UAE.

And it is now up to governing body Cricket Scotland and everyone involved in the sport in this country to ride this wave of positivity that is currently being enjoyed.

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Players like Mark Watt and Hamza Tahir are excellent role models for youngsters growing up where they did in Edinburgh and Paisley – indeed they are great role models for teens across the whole country – and they can help take this great sport to a new audience.

With the men’s team already assured a place at next year’s T20 World Cup in Australia and the women’s team on the up, this is a great time to be a cricket fan in Scotland.

As Scotland men’s skipper Coetzer put it: “I’m very proud of what we’ve achieved, but there is so much more left in the tank.”