Scotland's growing Cricket revolution

[Zim Flyer]

Cricket in Scotland is growing rapidly. More people now play cricket than Rugby north of the border and it is very much a quiet bottom up revolution, with the mass media ignoring it yet more kids are taking it up than ever before. The mass media are starting to recognise cricket as something Scottish which is essential for taking it to the next stage of development (advertising and sponsership etc).

Taken from last weeks Times:

As one of the country’s fastest-growing sports, cricket is appealing to a new generation — not least because we are quite good at it, writes Kenny Farquharson



As captain of the under-12 cricket team, Chris Ross knows the responsibility resting on his young shoulders. He narrows his eyes as the ball leaves the bowler’s hand. Chris swings with all his might. There is a crack of leather on willow. A flurry of whites and pads. A fielder lunges for a catch — and misses.
A typically English scene on the village green? A leafy corner of the home counties where stands the clock at 10 to three? Nope. This is Partick, in the heart of Glasgow, and Chris and his friends are playing one of Scotland’s fastest-growing sports.



Unlikely as it might seem, the quintessentially English pastime of cricket is becoming a Scottish sporting phenomenon. The game that conjures up images of retired colonels, large G&Ts and braying upperclass English voices is shedding its stereotype. The traditional cry of “Howzat!” is giving way to “Yeroot!” Surrounded by flats and overlooked by a Partick tower block is the West of Scotland Cricket Club, founded in 1862. It has three full adult teams and on a Friday night it plays host to the under-12s.

Young Chris has been playing cricket for six years. “Since I’ve been captain we’ve only lost once, so I think I am a good captain,” he says. “I don’t get a ribbing from my friends about playing cricket. I like it more than football — a one-day cricket match is much more exciting than a football match.”

Across town, Malcolm McLean, the children’s coach at Hillhead Cricket Club, says young Scots do not have the same qualms about the game as many of their elders. He has seen a 20% increase in the number of kids turning up for his training sessions this year. “They just love playing cricket,” he says. “Some of the local kids just keep turning up even if they are not selected for the team — they are very, very keen.”

This week, cricket in Scotland hits the big time when the Scottish international side plays Australia at the Grange in Edinburgh that organisers say could have been a sell-out twice over. Jack McConnell, the first minister, and Alex Salmond, the Scottish National party leader, are among the lucky ones who bagged some of the 4,500 tickets.

Cricket is that rarest of phenomena — a game that Scots actually seem to be quite good at. This fact alone may be enough to convince those wary of embracing it, concerned that it is no game for a red-blooded Scotsman.

The national cricket squads are celebrating a string of successes that put Scotland’s traditional sports of rugby and football to shame. Scotland has just qualified for the ICC World Cup in 2007 and the under-23 side last week won the European championships, a companion trophy for the under-19 European championship clinched earlier this year.

Success is a sport’s best recruiting campaign, and cricket has seen a wave of new converts. It now claims to be Scotland’s second-biggest participation sport, behind football. Yes, bigger even than rugby. Neil Leitch, the editor of Scottish Cricketer magazine, says the facts speak for themselves. “Look at the traditional rugby clubs in Edinburgh for example,” he says. “Even they have more cricketers than rugby players.” Stewart’s Melville, he says, has four cricket teams and three rugby teams, while Inverleith has “one-and-a-half” rugby teams and three cricket teams. More than 1,000 people play organised cricket every Saturday in Edinburgh alone.

Across Scotland, according to Cricket Scotland, there are 12,000 active team players. The Scottish Rugby Union’s latest figures puts its “seniors” tally at 9,000. The gap may widen. Aitken & Niven, the leading Scottish sports equipment supplier, reports a 20% increase in sales of cricketing paraphernalia in the past year.

Scotland’s greatest ever cricketer believes the sport in his native land has reached a critical point in its development. Mike Denness, the Bellshill-born Scot who captained England 19 times and played for Kent and Essex in the County Championships, says Scots are finally seeing the game for what it is, and not the threadbare stereotype. “I think we’re getting past the old image of cricket being the reserve of the upper class, because that has never been the case,” says Denness. “Rugby and football have perhaps drawn more people to them because they ’re easier sports for youngsters to take up on their own; you only need a couple of people for a knockabout, whereas that isn’t the case with cricket.”

Denness points to the long-standing phenomenon of patriotic Scots being fervently anti-English when it comes to football and rugby, but supporting the English cricket team in test matches. “I think you can see the real attraction of the game very clearly in the current Ashes series — it’s a sport that really draws you in,” he says.

Across the country the delights of the game are being learnt by a new generation of Scots. Edward Arthurs, a Londoner who moved to Scotland 20 years ago, is convinced that the new trend can only be good for young Scottish sportsmen and women. He brought up his sons, both of whom are talented rugby players, to play a winter sport and a summer sport.

Arthurs, 52, says: “Children can become obsessed with football, especially in a country like Scotland. It does them the world of good to take a break in the summer and try another sport, such as cricket. They learn new skills and come across different coaching techniques. My boys love both football and rugby with a passion, but they have got a huge amount out of playing cricket in the summer. It’s a wonderful team game that teaches a child so much.”

But not all Scots are comfortable with such a Sassenach game. Recently a website for the “Inspirational Edinburgh” campaign to promote Scotland’s capital city featured pictures of cricketers playing on the Meadows. It was too much for one city councillor. Tom Ponton, of the Lib Dems said, cricket “just isn’t Edinburgh”. He added: “Cricket is the last thing I would think of to put on an Edinburgh website. The PR company was probably paid thousands to come up with this ridiculous idea.”

That attitude seems to be reflected in the upper echelons of the Scottish sporting establishment. At present cricket is not one of the “core sports” as designated by the Scottish Institute of Sport as eligible for extra funding and full-time national coaching assistance. The core sports at present are: athletics, badminton, curling, football, golf, hockey, judo, rugby and swimming.
Many in the cricketing world are bemused that judo and badminton can be seen as more deserving than cricket. Craig Wright, the captain of the Scottish Saltires, reflects that view. “It’s definitely been frustrating that there’s been a lack of acknowledgement that cricket is a game Scotland can do something in. It’s a typical Scottish or British attitude towards sport that we seem unwilling to speculate on potential. They want you to meet certain goals first.”



An indication of cricket’s new profile in Scotland is the 20ft cut-out of Wright that is displayed on an advertising hoarding at Haymarket station. “This is without a doubt the biggest wave of interest, in terms of both the media and the public, that I’ve seen in Scottish cricket,” he says.

But even Wright accepts cricket has something of an image problem in Scotland, with some people unable to get over its essential Englishness. “It’s still going to be a problem. As a Scotsman and a cricketer, you continually have to justify what you do.”

Some sections of Scottish society have always been cricket daft. English soldiers stationed in Scotland following the Jacobite rebellion of 1745 first introduced the game and it has been played for more than 200 years, with the first recorded match in 1785.

The oldest cricket club in Scotland is in Kelso, where a garrison founded a club in 1820, and Scotland has had its own team since 1865. The game has never reached the heights it has achieved south or the border, but since 1980 Scotland has taken part in England’s Benson & Hedges Cup and NatWest Trophy one-day competitions and, in 1997, Scotland qualified for the ICC World Cup for the first time.

Perhaps the most significant development in recent years, according to Mike Stanger, spokesman for Cricket Scotland, has been the shedding of cricket’s class associations. “The tired image is years out of date,” he says. “I recently took an under-19 team to Australia, and out of 16 players, only five were from public school backgrounds.”

In addition, one of the more surprising developments emerging from the game is the opportunities it presents to girls. Back at Hillhead, McLean says: “It is a sport that girls can play as well as boys; in fact some of the girls are better than the boys.” This is borne out at Partick, where the only girl in the under-12s, Lynne Dickson, 11, has taken more wickets this year than any of the boys. As well as playing for the West of Scotland under-12s she plays for the girls’ development squad set up by Cricket Scotland. “It’s not hard for me being the only girl because the boys are nice to me,” she says. “I play football as well, but I prefer cricket. I play once a week. More during the summer.”

Last week viewing figures from Channel 4 provided further proof of the sport’s growing popularity. Figures for the gripping last few overs of England’s Ashes victory showed that a remarkable 24% of television viewers in the country were tuned into the action.

Rampant-Lion.co.uk, a Scottish cricketing website, has taken nearly 2.5m hits since its inception in 2000. Scottish cricket is coming of age.

All eyes are now on Thursday’s match against Australia. When the first ball is bowled at the Grange, it will inevitably be seen as the start of something of a one-sided contest. Surely Scotland are incapable of beating the mighty Aussies? Not if you examine the history. At the same Edinburgh ground on July 29, 1882, Scotland — captained by Leslie Balfour-Melville — beat Australia by 45 runs. Now that would be a result the Scottish sceptics could not ignore.

[clarky]

It great news Scotland are interested in cricket they need to build on there success they have had. We should incourage countrys like Kenya/Ireland/Namnibia/Holand/ireland/Canada maybe start some new league.English county could become regions instead like the Midlands/South west/Wales.This is my proposal for a new league.
English/African/Euro/The EAE league

South East
South West
Midlands
Wales
North East
North West
Ireland
Scotland
Kenya
Nanibia
Holland

The North American and Carabean league.The N.A.C.L
Canada
USA
Burmuda
Jamaica
Barbados
Antigua
Grenada
Guiana
St Lucia

This is My Proposal Zim Flyer do you have one.

UK/Ireland boxing thread
Old thread has gone new one here
UK has 5 world champions
Ricky Hatton
Clinton Woods
Joe Calzaghe
Scott Harrison
Johnny Nelson
(See Below)
Heavyweights

matt skelton

English
Age 37
Fights 18
Won 18 (17 ko's)
Lost 0
Next fight v Danny Williams Febuary 25th 2006
Danny williams

English
Age 32
Fights 38
Won 34 (28 ko's)
Lost 4
Next fight v Matt Skelton Febuary 25th 2006
Audley Harrison

English
Age 34
Fights 20
Won 19 (14 ko's)
Lost 1
Next fight TBA
Kevin McBride

Irish
Age 32
Fights 38
W 33 (28 ko's)
Lost 4
Drawn 1
Next fight TBA
Cruiserweight
David Haye

English
Age 25
Fights 16
Won 15 (15 ko's)
Lost 1
Next fight TBA
Carl Thompson

English
Age 41
Fights 40
Won 34 (25 ko's)
Lost 6
Next Fight TBA
Johnny Nelson
WBO Champion

English
Age 39
Fights 59
Won 45 (29 ko's)
Lost 12
Drawn 2
Next Fight 4th March v Enzo Maccarinelli
Enzo Maccarinelli

Welsh
Age 25
Fights 23
Won 22 (17 ko's)
Lost 1
Next Fight 4th March v Johnny Nelson
Light Heavyweight
Clinton Woods
IBF Champion

English
Age 33
Fights 42
Won 38 (23 ko's)
Lost 3
Drawn 1
Super Middleweight
Joe Calzaghe
WBO Champion

Welsh
Age 32
Fights 40
Won 40 (31 ko's)
Lost 0
Next fight 4th March v Jeff Lacy
Robin Reid

English
Age 34
Fights 44
Won 38 (27 ko's)
Lost 5
Drawn 1
Next fight TBA
Brian Magee

N Ireland
Age 30
Fights 26
Won 24 (17 ko's)
Lost 2
Next fights 28th January v Daniil Prakapsou
Next fights 31st March v Carl Froch
Carl Froch

English
Age 28
Fights 17
Won 17 (13 ko's)
Lost 0
Next fight 31st March v Brian Magee
Middleweight
Howard Eastman

English
Age 35
Fights 43
Won 40 (34 ko's)
Lost 3
Next fight TBA
Scott Dann

English
Age 31
Fights 25
Won 23 (16 ko's)
Lost 2
Next fight 10th Feb v Larry Sharpe
Wayne Alexander

English
Age 32
Fights 25
Won 23 (18 ko's)
Lost 2
Next fight 4th March v Thomas McDonagh
John Duddy

N Ireland
Age 26
Fights 14
W 14 (13 ko's)
Lost 0
Next fight TBA
Light Middleweight
Jamie Moore

English
Age 27
Fights 25
Won 22 (15 ko's)
Lost 3
Next fight TBA
Welterweight
Kevin Anderson

Scotish
Age 22
Fights 15
Won 15 (9 ko's)
Lost 0
Next fight TBA
Michael Jennings

English
Age 28
Fights 28
Won 28 (13 ko's)
Lost 0
Next fight 28th January v Young Muttley
Light Welterweight
Ricky Hatton
IBF/WBA Champion

English
Age 27
Fights 40
Won 40 (30 ko's)
Lost 0
Next fight 13th May v Boxer TBA
Junior Witter

English
Age 31
Fights 36
Won 33 (19 ko's)
Lost 1
Drawn 2
Next fight TBA
Lenny Daws

English
Age 27
Fights 13
Won 13 (6 ko's)
Lost 0
Next fight TBA
Jason Cook

Welsh
Age 30
Fights 26
Won 24 (10 ko's)
Lost 2
Next Fight TBA
Amir Khan
Olympic silver medal

English
Age 19
Fights 4
Won 4 (3 ko's)
Lost 0
Next fights 28th January v Vitali Martynov
25th Febuary v Boxer TBA
25th March v Boxer TBA
Lightweight
Graham Earl

English
Age 27
Fights 24
W 23 (12 ko's)
Lost 1
Next fight 27th January v Yuri Romanov
Michael Gomez

Irish
Age 28
Fights 38
W 32 (22 ko's)
Lost 6
Next fight 28th January v Peter McDonagh
Super Featherweight
Alex Arthur

Scottish
Age 27
Fights 22
Won 21 (17 ko's)
Lost 1
Next fight 18th Febuary v Ricky Burns
Ricky Burns

Scottish
Age 22
Fights 13
Won 13 (2 ko's)
Lost 0
Next fight 18th Feb v Alex Arthur
Craig Docherty

Scottish
Age 26
Fights 23
Won 19 (9 ko's)
Lost 3
Drawn 1
Next fight TBA
Willie Limond

Scottish
Age 26
Fights 28
Won 27 (8 ko's)
Lost 1
Next fight 18th Feb v Steve Murray
Kevin Mitchell

English
Age 21
Fights 17
Won 17 (12 ko's)
Lost 0
Next fight 25th Feb Boxer TBA
Featherweight
Scott Harrison
WBO

Scottish
Age 28
Fights 29
Won 25 (14 ko's)
Lost 2
Drawn 2
Next fight 25th March v Joan Guzman
Nicky Cook

English
Age 26
Fights 25
Won 25 (15 ko's)
Lost 0
Next fight 24th Feb v Yuri Voronin
Super Bantamweight
Bernard Dunne

Irish
Age 25
Fights 18
Won 18 (11 ko's)
Lost 0
Next fight 28th Jan v Noel Wilders
Michael Hunter

English
Age 27
Fights 24
Won 23 (9 ko's)
Drawn 1
Lost 0
Next fight 3rd March v Massimo Morra
Bantamweight
Martin Power

English
Age 25
Fights 18
Won 18 (7 ko's)
Lost 0
Next fight 17th March v Isaac Ward
Super Flyweight
Damaen Kelly

N Ireland
Age 32
Fights 24
Won 22 (10 ko's)
Lost 2
Flyweight
Lee Haskins

English
Age 22
Fights 13
Won 13 (8 ko's)
Lost 0
Next fight 10th Feb v Anthony Mathias

[Waterfront]

It would be great if more countries would compete in cricket. It would be great to have a test series against Scotland in the not too distant future.

[Anniyan]

Great news, hope after the world cup cricket will become much more popular in scotland...

BTW, what about the players in intl scotland cricket team, are they all scots or have they hired anybody from India,Pakistan ot Lanka like US Cricket team.

[Waterfront]

I dig your avatar Anniyan. Very original.

[Anniyan]

Originally Posted by Waterfront

I dig your avatar Anniyan. Very original.

what did u search...

[gothicform]

Rampant-Lion.co.uk, a Scottish cricketing website, has taken nearly 2.5m hits since its inception in 2000. Scottish cricket is coming of age.

big deal. my site has served 1,678,810 pages so far this year. puts the scottish cricketing revolution in perspective. its easy to claim impressive sound stats for a website - any website just about because the figures add up.

[Zim Flyer]

Originally Posted by clarky

It great news Scotland are interested in cricket they need to build on there success they have had. We should incourage countrys like Kenya/Ireland/Namnibia/Holand/ireland/Canada maybe start some new league.English county could become regions instead like the Midlands/South west/Wales.This is my proposal for a new league.
English/African/Euro/The EAE league

South East
South West
Midlands
Wales
North East
North West
Ireland
Scotland
Kenya
Nanibia
Holland

The North American and Carabean league.The N.A.C.L
Canada
USA
Burmuda
Jamaica
Barbados
Antigua
Grenada
Guiana
St Lucia

This is My Proposal Zim Flyer do you have one.

I would stick with the current county system but would include a play off match at the end of every season between the bottom county and the top minor county. At the moment there are some really good players in Staffordshire, but they have no where to go unless a first class county spots, which is unlikely due to the number of Kolpak players floating around.

I would also have Scotland, Holland and Ireland playing in the one day league of England.

I would have Canada (where cricket is also growing through the work of the immigrants of Indian and Pakistan etc) play in Australia during their winter.

I think a certain amount of money must be set aside by the ICC to allow the top twelve players from Scotland (they currently have five full time players - the rest are amateurs), Holland, Ireland and Canada to go full time and get them playing the best sides in England and Australia.

I'm not sure about things in Holland, but I do think the future is bright in Scotland, Ireland and Canada for cricket, Scotland and Ireland are putting a lot of time into youth cricket and Cricket is the fastest growing sport in Toronto.


I think 20 20 international cricket will also help the game in these countries, as it is so much fun and only requires three hours for a high impact top notch match.

[clarky]

I suppose there could be a Welsh team with Simon jones and Robert croft.

[The Boy David]

It is indeed a quiet revolution up here, but it is happening - the other day there were about 15 children playing cricket on the football pitch near my house! I couldnt believe my eyes - I thought I was halucinating (again).

Long may it continue - I'm not a fan of the sport, but the more people playing any kind of sports the better.

[Overground]

Cricket is really starting to grow again in Canada - meaning, once many moons ago it was popular. Canada has qualified again for the next WC so that makes it 2 in a row. Winter testing in Oz would be great for Canada but it all comes down to funding. There so many other sports that always come first before cricket. Perhaps winter testing in Bermuda or the Caribbean! If Canada hurrys up and takes Turks and Caicos into Confederation, it could have some sort of permanent base down there.

[Jonesy55]

Originally Posted by clarky

This is My Proposal do you have one.

My proposal would be to partner the developing cricket nations with the established nations and allow them to participate in the one-day competitions of their partner nations.

For example Netherlands, Scotland and Ireland could play in the English competitions, Zimbabwe and Namibia could play in the South African league, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Fiji etc could play in Australia or New Zealand, The UAE and Afghanistan could play in Pakistan, Malaysia and Bangladesh could play in India, USA and Canada could play in the West Indies, Kenya could play in Sri Lanka and so on.

I would also like to see the test countries send coaches and funds for promoting the game and setting up competitive leagues in their partner countries.

I would also make matches and series (both one day and longer matches) between the non-test nations a regular event

I would reluctantly remove Zimbabwe and Bangladesh from the test playing nations for the time being to rejoin and strengthen the emerging nations.