Saltires get Coetzer green light

KYLE Coetzer is poised to make a surprise comeback for the Scottish Saltires as they attempt to halt their dismal run against the English counties tomorrow.

With Durham having deemed him surplus to their immediate requirements, the Saltires want to include Coetzer in their plans for tomorrow's Clydesdale Bank 40 clash with Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge.

The batsman has been out of favour at Chester-le-Street and Scotland involvement would put him back in the shop window.

Senior Saltires selector Ian Kennedy confirmed: "We've been told that Kyle could be available for us this weekend and we hope to get things fixed so he can link up with the squad."

Coetzer has been consigned to second team duties with Durham and has responded with a string of high scores. He has also been skippering the team.

Batsman Neil McCallum will miss tomorrow's match after failing to recover from the injury he sustained during the recent loss to Warwickshire and will miss next week's ICC Intercontinental Cup game against Afghanistan in Ayr. With the exception of Coetzer and McCallum, selectors have named an unchanged squad.

The Scots have lost six in a row in the Clydesdale Bank 40 competition, and Kennedy knows they need to stop the rot.

He said: "There is no getting away from the fact that our results against the counties have been very disappointing this season.

"It is a hard stage for the guys to operate on, however the trip to Nottingham is a great opportunity for them to earn a change of fortunes."

Scottish Saltires (v Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge tomorrow). From: Gordon Drummond (captain), Kyle Coetzer, Fraser Watts, Preston Mommsen, George Bailey, Richie Berrington, Gavin Hamilton, Moneeb Iqbal, Mathew Parker, Dougie Lockhart, Majid Haq, Ross Lyons, Gordon Goudie.