Scots will miss £700k bonus after painful loss

THE fallout from Scotland’s heartbreaking World Cup qualifying defeat to West Indies continued yesterday as the financial disadvantages were laid bare. Speaking to the BBC, Cricket Scotland chief executive Malcolm Cannon revealed the loss in Harare — with rain ending Scotland’s hopes of chasing down a low Windies total — could go as far as to affect the grassroots game in this country. Cricket Scotland will now lose out on a reported £700,000 bonus in funding — with Cannon admitting he wasn’t certain if some fulltime contracts could be cut. ‘It isn’t just financial implications,’ said Cannon. ‘The opportunities to play cricket are reducing somewhat. ‘The ICC don’t offer many opportunities to us and going into a World Cup year, the teams we would like to play become very busy. So finding a window in their schedule is very tough.’ Scotland have only a one-day international with England on June 10 and two Twenty20 matches against Pakistan on their calendar this summer. ‘There is no actual cost because these are monies we never assumed we would have,’ continued Cannon. ‘But it’s an opportunities cost. Obviously it would have been a big bonus had we got there — and I don’t mean player bonuses or payments. ‘That would have enabled us to do other things and not just prepare for the World Cup, but also invest in grassroots cricket even more than we are doing currently.’ Scotland were on 125-5, chasing down the Windies’ total of 198, when rain ended their pursuit, the Scots losing by five runs on the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method. ‘It was in our hands and if we had been given that chance to progress at the beginning, we would have bitten someone’s hand off,’ added Cannon. ‘We have been lobbying the ICC (International Cricket Council) for the last three years, telling them that (reducing the number of teams at the World Cup from 14 to ten) is a retrograde step for cricket globally.’