Scotland national cricket team

Before ICC membership

The first recorded cricket match in Scotland took place in Alloa in 1785. It would be another eighty years, however, before Scotland played their first full match, against Surrey in 1865, which they won by 172 runs.

The first Scottish Cricket Union was formed in 1879, and the national team beat Australia by 7 wickets three years later. The cricket union became defunct in 1883, and Grange Cricket Club took over the administration of the game until 1909. The first match against Ireland took place in Dublin in 1888, with the Irish emerging victorious. They also played South Africa, the West Indies, an all-Indian team, and New Zealand before the start of World War II.

1948 saw Australia visit Scotland for two games at the end of their tour of England. These games, both of which were won by the Australians, were to be the last international games for Don Bradman. The Don signed off in typical style, making a fine unbeaten 123 in the innings victory.

Scotland first competed in English domestic cricket in 1980, when they competed in the Benson & Hedges Cup for the first time. Three years later they took part in the NatWest Trophy. Their first Benson & Hedges win came against Lancashire in 1986.

Scottish cricketers

The most famous cricketers to have come from Scotland are probably the former England captain, Mike Denness, Warwickshire all-rounder Dougie Brown, and former England Test player Gavin Hamilton. Another great Scottish cricketer was B.R. (Lager) Hardie, who was a major contributor to the successful Essex side of the 1970s and 1980s. Possibly one of the best spinners and certainly a respected journalist was the aptly named Ian Peebles, who was one of the cricketers of the year in 1931 alongside Don Bradman.

The most infamous cricketer, a man who was vilified in Australia, was a Scot, Douglas Jardine, father to and inventor of "Body Theory", which is well documented under "Bodyline". Jardine was born in British India, and died in Switzerland, spending most of his life in England. However, his parents were Scottish. He asked for his ashes to be scattered in Scotland and gave his own children Scottish names.

ICC membership

In 1992 Scotland severed their ties with the Test and County Cricket Board (TCCB) and England, and gained associate membership of the ICC in their own right in 1994. They competed in the ICC Trophy for the first time in 1997, finishing third and qualifying for the 1999 World Cup, where they lost all their games. The 2001 ICC Trophy saw them finish 4th, losing a play-off game to Canada, but they won the 2005 tournament, beating long-time rivals Ireland in the final. 2004 saw Scotland first confirm themselves as one of the leading associate nations by winning the inaugural Intercontinental Cup. However, they did not progress beyond the first round in the 2005 tournament.

2006

March 2006 saw Scotland embark on a pre-season tour to Barbados. They performed with some credit, although they only won one of their 6 games, against a Barbados XI. They owed much of their success to Dougie Brown, who re-qualified to represent Scotland internationally in 2004. They competed in the C & G Trophy in English domestic cricket in the early part of the 2006 English cricket season. They performed better than expected, winning three of their nine games, and finishing eighth in the Northern conference.

In June, they played their first ODI since the 1999 World Cup when they took on Pakistan in Edinburgh. Without key players Dougie Brown and Navdeep Poonia, they lost by five wickets. They finally got their first ODI win in the European Championships in August with a win over the Netherlands in a rain-shortened game. They again missed key players for some games in this tournament though, and thanks to their loss against Ireland, finished second in the tournament.

During 2006 and early 2007, Scotland participated in the third edition of the Intercontinental Cup. They beat Namibia by an innings in May 2006, but draws against Ireland in August and the United Arab Emirates in January 2007 meant that they failed to reach the final. In December 2006, they travelled to Test nation Bangladesh for a two-match ODI series - their first outside the UK - but lost both matches heavily.

2007

In January 2007, after the Intercontinental Cup match against the UAE in Sharjah, they travelled to Kenya, first playing in a tri-series against Canada and Kenya in Mombasa, which they finished second in. This was followed by Division One of the World Cricket League in Nairobi, where Scotland finished as runners up.

They then travelled to the West Indies for their second World Cup. They again lost all their games and failed to progress beyond the first round. Back in the UK, they competed in the Friends Provident Trophy, their only win coming against Lancashire. They also drew an Intercontinental Cup match against the UAE and an ODI against Pakistan in July was washed out.

In July, Scotland took part in a quadrangular series in Ireland against the hosts, the Netherlands and the West Indies. However, the endeavour was not a success. They lost their matches against Ireland and the West Indies with the match against the Netherlands being abandoned due to rain.

At the beginning of August, Scotland were on Intercontinental Cup duty as they won against the Netherlands by an innings and 59 runs. They then drew with Ireland in a rain affected match, only gaining 3 points however after a poor 1st innings display. India were Scotland's next ODI opponents in mid-August, which was shown live on BBC Scotland from Titwood, Glasgow. The match was reduced slightly to 46 overs after a couple of brief showers, but India won by 7 wickets.

Having reached the final of the World Cricket League earlier in the year, Scotland qualified to play in the Twenty20 World Championship held in South Africa. They lost by 51 runs to Pakistan in their first game, and did not get a chance to play their other Group D opponents India, as the game was washed out without a ball being bowled.

2008

In July 2008, Scotland played a tri-series against New Zealand and Ireland in Aberdeen, Scotland. Scotland beat Ireland but lost their match against New Zealand.

In early August, Scotland participated with five other Associate nations in the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier in Belfast. Despite an initial loss to hosts Ireland, victory against Bermuda secured a semi final slot. Throwing off the disappointment of an unexpected loss to the Netherlands in the semi-final a few hours earlier, Scotland bounced right back for a 9 wicket victory over Kenya (who had advanced ahead of Canada), to secure third place. However, with only two nations guaranteed to progress, qualification for the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 was only granted when Zimbabwe confirmed that they would not attend the tournament.

On 18 August, Scotland played their first ODI encounter against England. Hosting the Auld Enemy, at the Grange Cricket Club in Edinburgh. However the match was abandoned due to rain after less than 3 overs of England's reply to Scotland's 156/9.

In December 2008, Cricket Scotland, the governing body of Scottish cricket, took the historic act of giving three Scotland players central contracts. Bowlers Gordon Goudie and Dewald Nel and captain Ryan Watson became the first full-time professional cricketers based in Scotland. Nineteen other cricketers have been offered part-time professional deals.

2009

Scotland participated in the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 in England in June 2009. They were drawn alongside Test nations New Zealand and South Africa in Group D, with both matches being played at The Oval in London.

The first match, against New Zealand, was shortened to 7 overs per side due to rain. Scotland batted first and made 89/4, with Kyle Coetzer top-scoring with 33. However, three no-balls and a dropped catch enabled New Zealand to win by seven wickets with an over to spare.

In the second match, South Africa made 211/5, with AB de Villiers hitting 79 not out off only 34 balls. In response, Scotland were bowled out for 81, more than half of which was scored by Coetzer (42). The 130-run margin of defeat was the second-largest in terms of runs in a Twenty20 International.

2010

In 2010 Scotland took part in the inaugural ECB 40 tournament.

Scotland competed in the qualifiers in the United Arab Emirates, to compete for a place in the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 in the West Indies. They competed for a place with Afghanistan, Canada, Ireland, Kenya, the Netherlands, the UAE and the USA. The tournament was disappointing for Scotland, going out in the group stage without winning a single match.

ICC World Cup Qualifiers

During March and April 2009 Scotland attempted to defend the ICC Trophy they won in 2005. To secure qualification for the 2011 Cricket World Cup a top four place was targeted. They were also attempting to secure ODI status by finishing in the top six.

Scotland started the tournament badly by losing three of their five group games. With only the points earned against Namibia being taken through to the Super Eights, Scotland faced a difficult route to the World Cup.

Scotland started the Super Eights well by beating the Netherlands in their first match. Defeats against Kenya and Afghanistan followed. The result of which threatened Scotland's qualification for the World Cup as well as the possibility of losing their ODI status if they finished out of the top six.

Victory against UAE in their last game, and an improved run-rate, thanks to the 122 run victory, ensured a top six place for the Scots, securing ODI status until the next round of World Cup qualifiers.

The Scottish team qualified for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 in Australia and New Zealand, but was eliminated after six straight losses out of six matches.

New Zealand A tour of Scotland in 2014

In August 2014, Scotland played a three match series against New Zealand A at Cambusdoon New Ground, Ayr. In the first match Grant Elliott and captain BJ Watling scored centuries and ensured that New Zealand A won by 199 runs. Scotland conceded nearly 150 runs in the last ten overs.

In January 2017 Scotland took part in the 2017 Desert T20 Challenge. They won all three of their group fixtures, before losing to Ireland in the semi-finals.

Future series/tournaments

During the second half of 2016, Scotland will play the United Arab Emirates in both the fourth round of the 2015–17 ICC Intercontinental Cup and the fourth round of the 2015–17 ICC World Cricket League Championship.

Other tournaments

‡ Only the matches between Scotland, Ireland and the Netherlands in the 2006 tournament have official ODI status.

Coaching Staff

Coaches

The following people have coached the Scottish national side at various stages. For some coaches, the exact dates of their tenure are unavailable, although key tournaments are noted: