Scotland has announced its 15-member squad for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier, which will be held in Zimbabwe from June 18 to July 9. The top two teams from the ten-team event will qualify for the main ODI World Cup, taking place in India in October-November this year.
Alasdair Evans and Adrian Neill have replaced Liam Naylor and the retired Kyle Coetzer in the team. Evans will play his first ODI since facing Oman in 2021, while Neill re-joins the squad in prime form after taking 6/17 on recent club duty with Heriots.
The squad features a good mix of youth and senior players, according to interim head coach Doug Watson. He said the team is excited about the opportunity and knows how tough the challenge will be. The conditions are changing in Zimbabwe as it moves into winter, and will be quite spin-friendly. The key thing for Scotland will be to adapt to the conditions and approach the games the way they want to play them.
The Scotland team will fly to Pretoria in South Africa on June 2 for a pre-tournament training camp. They will also play two warm-up games against Nepal and Netherlands before heading to Zimbabwe. Glenn Pocknall (bowling lead) and Graeme Beghin (batting & fielding lead) will act as assistant coaches, with Gavin Cross joining the tour as physiotherapist.
The Scotland squad includes Richie Berrington (captain), Matthew Cross, Alasdair Evans, Chris Greaves, Jack Jarvis, Michael Leask, Tom Mackintosh, Chris McBride, Brandon McMullen, George Munsey, Adrian Neill, Safyaan Sharif, Chris Sole, Hamza Tahir, and Mark Watt.
