Saltires aiming to maintain momentum

GORDON Drummond captains the Scottish Saltires for the first time today against a backdrop of unanimous approval of his work with the national side. Not for some time has Scottish cricket's elite vehicle ticked along so contentedly.

Drummond has won a landslide majority of his games as Scotland captain, both in four-day and one-day cricket. He hasn't led the team against a professional county or country yet, and it is here that winning runs tend to undergo a backflip.

But the 30-year-old from Meigle has already racked up multiple credits: his young team won four games out of six at the recent World Cricket League in the Netherlands, losing only to Ireland, and morale in the camp has rarely been more bubbly, with the emerging talents within the group attaching to their new leader like limpets.

On the south side of Glasgow this weekend, with Durham and Warwickshire providing the opposition in the Clydesdale Bank 40, the same players will demonstrate the tightly-woven resolve that helped them overcome India A in an astonishing encounter at Citylets Titwood last month.

"Gordon has had a phased introduction to the captaincy (Gavin Hamilton was still in part-time charge until last month's England match] and he commands the respect of all of the players," said coach Pete Steindl, whose own stock has risen with the rejuvenation of Scotland's fortunes since April, and partly thanks to Drummond.

"He adheres to the values that we have set out and lives by those values more than anyone. He leads from the front, he loves playing for Scotland and he thinks a lot about it.

"The players all know him from club cricket and they respect the fact that, to all intents and purposes, Gordon Drummond has to work really hard to be where he is as a cricketer. The sort of role model he is is a really good one for our young players to follow."

The most encouraging sign of improvement under Drummond is the delegation of batting responsibilities.

Richie Berrington, who made three half-centuries in the first five games of the CB40, averaged just 19.50 in the Netherlands as Neil McCallum, Fraser Watts, Preston Mommsen and Moneeb Iqbal all came to the fore with big individual scores. A little overseas aid remains necessary in the face of a battery like those at the disposal of Phil Mustard's Durham and Ian Westwood's Warwickshire, however, and George Bailey's return will be greeted positively by all players except the one who loses his place.

The Australia A captain arrived back from his homeland on Wednesday night and trained with the Saltires on Thursday, and will bolster the top order alongside Berrington, who, contrary to many people's expectations, is still available having declined to snap up the first county contract placed on the table. "Richie is a big player for us and we ask a lot of him not just as a batter but also as a bowler and our best fielder," said Steindl. "He was certainly due a rest come the end of the World Cricket League and we're looking forward to seeing some good performances from him in the next six weeks."

Hinting at further experimental changes at the top order, with Hamilton likely to lose his opener's slot, Steindl was also full of praise for Mommsen, the 22-year-old Gordonstoun alumnus who made his debut in May and came good in the WCL final against the Irish. "The good thing that I saw from Preston over in Holland was how he responded to getting dropped," said the coach.

"When he got left out against Afghanistan after a game in which he was disappointing, and he was disappointed in himself in how he batted against Kenya, the way he responded against Ireland was a great sign for the future.

"He showed that he could play all around the wicket and the 80 he scored against Ireland was very good, a real glimpse of what he can provide us with over the years to come.

"Because the games that we won were mostly quite close, the confidence and belief that came out of that was really good.

"The fight that we showed in the tournament was great, and the guys when we finished were genuinely disappointed not to have gone one better.

"We've come a long way since April 2009 - but at the same time we've got to keep going."

Scottish Saltires (probable): P Mommsen, F Watts, G Bailey, G Hamilton, R Berrington, N McCallum, D Lockhart, G Drummond (capt), M Haq, M Parker, G Goudie.

Durham (from): M Di Venuto, P Mustard (capt), B Harmison, D Benkenstein, B Stokes, G Muchall, I Blackwell, G Breese, L Plunkett, M Claydon, S Harmison, W Smith, C Rushworth.