Coaching team for Scotland revealed

Cricket: Priorities set for warm-weather training

They are unlikely to appoint a new full-time coach until next year but Cricket Scotland yesterday confirmed the coaching and support group that will be in charge of the national team’s training camp in La Manga later this month.

Acting head coach Toby Bailey and high performance manager Simon Smith will be joined by spin coach Andy Tennant, while former Scotland captain and hall-of-famer Gordon Drummond will lead the pace bowling group.

The camp, which runs from November 10 to 16, will focus on four key priorities agreed by the coaches and players: power hitting, batting against spin, bowling skills, and leadership.

Bailey said: “Our warmweather base in Spain will be the ideal place for us to bring into focus these areas which we know will be hugely important to our success.”

As a way of adding value in these areas, the group will be joined by powerhitting guru Julian Wood, Gloucestershire CCC coach Owen Dawkins, Kent allrounder Darren Stevens, and leadership consultant Louise Finlayson.

The latter comes into the senior national programme having worked with the governing body’s performance academy over the last year.

Scotland captain Kyle Coetzer said: “It has been a landmark year for this team and now we are desperate to take things to the next level in 2019 and beyond.

“It will be a busy camp and we are all excited to get started on this next stage of our journey.”

A Cricket Scotland spokesman said he expected the search for a replacement for former coach Grant Bradburn to be completed early next year.

● England suffered a setback in preparations for next week’s first Test in Sri Lanka when the opening day of their final warm-up match was washed out.

The team had not even left their hotel when it was decided to abandon the day’s play against a Board XI at Colombo Cricket Club.

Agreement has been reached to turn the planned two-day fixture into a 50-over-a-side game today but, with weather forecasts mixed, there is a chance even that may not happen.

Should that be the case England will travel to Galle for the series opener with just two days of red-ball cricket under their belt.

Meanwhile, the England management are awaiting updates about the accommodation plans for the second Test at Pallekele.

The hotel earmarked for both teams, the Earl’s Regency in Kandy, is understood to have overbooked.

Solutions mooted include the somewhat drastic option of moving the game to Colombo – though that would cause more logistical problems than it would solve – and it is understood Sri Lanka Cricket is confident the issue is in hand.

Gordon Drummond