The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Scots keen to put on show for fans
Richie Berrington is ready to end two years of frustration when Scotland go head-to-head with Zimbabwe at the Grange today.
Berrington and his Saltires team-mates last played in front of a home crowd in August 2019, but the long wait will end with the first of three T20 internationals against the Zimbabweans.
It’s the start of a longawaited busy spell for the Scots, who will also play four World Cup League 2 fixtures and appear in the T20 World Cup within the next six weeks.
All-rounder Berrington, the country’s leading run scorer in T20s, said: “It’s been a really frustrating period for all the guys and incredible to think how long we’ve had to wait to play at home.
“It was exciting to play two matches in Holland at the start of the summer, which were our first games since before the Covid outbreak.
“It will be even better to play in front of our home fans again after so long and it’s brilliant to have a touring team at the Grange.
“We know the Zimbabweans pretty well and they are coming off the back of a T20 and 50-over series in Ireland, so they will be well prepared.”
Berrington, third in the ICC all-rounder rankings, believes the Zimbabwe games are ideal preparation for even bigger challenges ahead, culminating in the T20 World Cup in Muscat next month when the Scots will face Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea and Oman.
He added: “Suddenly the games are coming thick and fast and it’s exciting this spell of games will end with our appearance at the T20 World Cup.
“I was lucky enough to play in the 2016 tournament when we managed our first win at a global finals and this time we’ll be setting our sights even higher.
“We want to get through to the next phase and, although we are up against three very good teams who will all pose a tough challenge, we believe we have a great opportunity.”
Scotland are without county duo Josh Davey and Brad Wheal for this week’s matches, with Gavin Main and Adrian Neill on standby.
The Wolf777 Scotland v Zimbabwe T20 Series continues on Friday and Sunday.
Sri Lanka great Lasith Malinga has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket.
The fast bowler is widely regarded as one of the best white-ball bowlers ever and captained his country to Twenty20 World Cup success in 2014.
He remains the leading wicket-taker in T20I history with 107 scalps.