Richie Berrington-led Scotland announce squad for World Cup Qualifiers

Scotland have announced their 15-member squad for the ICC World Cup Qualifiers, scheduled to be played in Zimbabwe from next month. Richie Berrington has been tasked to lead the side, that marks the returns of fast bowlers Alasdair Evans and Adrian Neill. The duo will replace Liam Naylor and the recently-retired Kyle Coetzer, who last played in Nepal where Scotland clinched the ICC CWC League 2 title.

A few players were not considered due to County commitments, a release from Cricket Scotland said. Evans, who recently was announced as one of the 14 contracted players, could be in line to play his first ODI since taking on Oman in 2021, while Neill rejoins the squad after an excellent display in club cricket that saw him finish with 6 for 17 playing for the Heriots on Saturday (May 13).

Interim Head Coach Doug Watson is excited about what lies ahead for the team in Zimbabwe.

“I think there’s a good mixture in this squad of youth and senior players who’ve been around a while – the likes of Richie and George, as well as some exciting young talent in Jack Jarvis and Chris McBride," Watson said.

“It’s obviously a wonderful opportunity coming up in Zimbabwe, and the guys that we’ve selected are all really excited and fizzing to go. They know how tough the challenge is going to be.

“It’s moving into winter over there just now, and the conditions are changing, and will be quite spin-friendly, but the key thing will be for us to adapt to the conditions and approach the games the way we want to play them.”

Scotland will fly out to Pretoria on June 2, where they will play a couple of warm-up games against Nepal and the Netherlands before heading to Zimbabwe for the tournament. 

Scotland have added Glenn Pocknall and Graeme Beghin to their backroom staff. Pocknall has a vast experience with the Wellington Firebirds and was also the head coach of the New Zealand side for their T20I series against Bangladesh in 2021. Beghin rejoins the squad as the batting and fielding coach. He was part of the coaching setup during the T20 World Cup 2022.

The 10-team World Cup Qualifier will take place between June 18-July 9 with with two teams progressing to the World Cup in India, scheduled to be played in India later this year. 

Scotland squad for ICC CWC Qualifiers: 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, Mark Watt