Empire strikes back but Scots are on rise
National side making progress despite Zimbabwe exacting revenge. By Graeme Macpherson
TOURISM has always been key to Edinburgh’s enduring prosperity but there is one set of visitors the capital has often struggled to attract. When Zimbabwe appeared on Thursday at The Grange for the first of two one-day internationals, it was the first visit of a full-member side since England came north in May 2014 for a rain-interrupted contest that Scotland lost by 39 runs.
Opportunities have been scarce for the Scots to test themselves on the road, too. Their last ODI on foreign soil, outside of a major tournament, was away to Australia in March 2015 prior to the World Cup in the same country.
As an aspiring associate nation, these are the matches Scotland would love to be looking forward to on a more regular basis. Often, the hardest part is trying to convince touring Test-playing nations to add a short stint north of the border to their schedules.
One or two results of late have shown that Scotland are more than capable of offering the lowerranked full-member teams a decent challenge. Sri Lanka were beaten by seven wickets in an unofficial 50-over contest in Kent last month, while Zimbabwe lost by 26 runs on Thursday in what was Scotland’s first ODI win over a full member.
Back-to-back victories, though, would elude Scotland yesterday as the empire struck back. As had also been their case in the recent series with Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe gained swift revenge in the second game, ending what has been a breakthrough summer for Scotland on something of a downbeat note.
The home side had posted a colossal 317 in the first game against the same opponents but, having won the toss and elected to bat again, they fell some way short of such a total second time around.
Kyle Coetzer (61) and Calum Macleod (58) both registered half-centuries to offer early hope but they received little batting support. Michael Leask was the next-highest scorer with 11 as Scotland collapsed from 106-1 to 169 all out after 42 overs. Graeme Cremer was the pick of Zimbabwe’s bowlers, taking 5-29.
Zimbabwe may not be among the top echelon of Test-playing nations but they were never going to pass up this opportunity to register a win. Reaching 44-3 at lunch, they coasted through to their target with six wickets and 13 overs to spare. Sikandar Raza top scored with 58, while Chris Sole may take some solace from bowling figures of 3-36 on an otherwise disappointing day for the hosts.
Captain Coetzer said: “At stages today we had Zimbabwe massively under pressure but then we had quite a big collapse and we couldn’t put the total on board that we would have hoped.”
This was Scotland’s final examination of the summer, with their next action away to Papua New Guinea in October on Intercontinental Cup and World Cricket League duty. But the appetite for the bigger occasions has been whetted now, regardless of this result. England have confirmed they will come north next summer, with Pakistan also pencilled in to appear. Turning these kind of ties into established fixtures on the Scottish cricket calendar remains the ongoing challenge.
The reduction of the 2019 World Cup from 14 to 10 teams may have been a discouraging development, but elsewhere in the sport there is scope for optimism. Both Ireland and Afghanistan are expected to be afforded full Test-playing status this week – the first teams to be welcomed into cricket’s highest stratosphere since 2000 – while there is also talk of the creation of a new 13-nation ODI league.
Scotland have their eyes on being that lucky 13th side, although others, such as the Dutch, will also fancy their chances.
Of course, in trying to develop the game in this country, the weather is the one unquantifiable factor that can’t be controlled. Rain delays have been a feature throughout Scotland’s stop-start I-Cup campaign and this summer’s series of home fixtures.
Such is the frustration at meteorological matters that some within Cricket Scotland HQ have been wondering aloud – possibly only half-jokingly – about the prospect of a version of the game being drawn up that could be played even in the dankest of conditions.
Waterproof cricket with bowlers, batsmen and fielders dashing through the puddles would surely be a thing to behold.
There were no weather worries yesterday, however, and a decent crowd made the most of the conditions, children running happily around the perimeter of the ground as parents lounged lazily in sunchairs, sunglasses on eyes, beers in hand.
By the end, however, Scotland must have been wishing for rain as their opponents eased to victory.
This was a disappointing day but there is plenty to be optimistic about as Scottish cricket hopes for more chances to take on the big boys in the years ahead.
“You would have to say it’s been a breakthrough summer,” Coetzer agreed. “Beating Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe in the eight or 10 days or so that we’ve had this summer – we’d definitely have taken that at the start of the season.
“We’ve definitely put in a case to have more games against full members. And if we do get those opportunities I’m sure we won’t be far away [from matching them].”