Latest news with #CricketScotland
Edinburgh Reporter
3 days ago
- Sport
- Edinburgh Reporter
Omer's roadmap for Grange
Omer Mahmud Khan has taken over as coach of the Grange women's cricket team knowing he doesn't need to look far to find role models for his charges. Two recent Grange players, Lucy Weston and Ellen Watson, are now playing for Leicestershire Foxes in the women's one day league in England. Omer says it is his goal to provide opportunities for others to follow in their footsteps while also targeting success in the fledgling Scottish Women's Premiership and national knock out cup which begins on a twenty:20 format in July. One of the most recognisable figures in East cricket – Omer played with Drummond Trinity from 2008-2016 before spending the next eight years at Kirkbrae (five as captain alongside three as chairman) he has committed his playing abilities to Boroughmuir this season as it one of the clubs most convenient for him – he says: 'I just completed my level 1 and 2 coaching qualifications with Cricket Scotland when the role at Grange came up. 'There is tremendous potential with around 50 females involved including teams for under-14 and under-16s. 'Some have been playing at Grange since aged four or five and it is such a great venue with a road map for players to follow the likes of Lucy and Ellen. 'With older players availability can be sporadic due to university commitments so my arrival while running the 12 week long Edinburgh Hub for a select group of under-16 boys under the MCC Foundation scheme is a good time to launch a recruitment drive at Grange. 'What we don't want to do is promote under-16's into the seniors just to be number fillers which can be discouraging. We need the up and comings to earn their places. 'Part of the overall challenge is improving awareness of the Women's Premier League but hopefully we play our part alongside Cricket Scotland's growth plan.' One of England's most decorated cricketers, Stuart Broad, is coming to Edinburgh's Assembly Rooms on 26 October as part of a UK wide tour. Stuart's roadshow will see him reflect on a career which yielded more than 600 Test wickets as well as a T20 World Cup and Ashes success. The Grange women's cricket team before their opening Scottish women's Premier League match against the combined Watsonian/Dumfries side. The Grange team comprised: E Wood, A Patwari, C Edwards, C Milburn, E Small, B Gull, I Sale, I Westwood, N Maxim, C Beddison, S Nayak. Like this: Like Related
The Herald Scotland
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Liam Naylor on turning down Bruce Springsteen to answer Scotland call
Liam Naylor took the good news/bad news approach when telling dad, Phil, that he was returning to the Scotland squad after a two-year absence. The downside was that his old man would need to find someone else to take his ticket for the Bruce Springsteen gig they were meant to be going to together at Anfield this week. That, however, was a small price to pay for the chance to reignite his international aspirations. 'It's good to be back,' said the Liverpool-born batter. 'I didn't know what to expect as all I knew was I was going to get a phone call but didn't know whether it was going to be, 'you're in' or 'you're not in'. 'Then I saw Steve Snell [Cricket Scotland's Head of Performance] calling me. And he just said, 'you've scored plenty of runs and bashed the door down and there are only so many times we can say no to you!' 'I thought I would surprise my dad with the news by telling him first of all that he was going to have to sell my ticket for Bruce Springsteen. And when he started to act all disappointed I told him why. And then at that point he was delighted for me. 'So, I'm buzzing to be back involved. I'll try see Springsteen another time. I'm much happier being around the lads and back in the squad.' Naylor's return for the forthcoming twin series against the Netherlands and Nepal – the first a 50-over mini-tournament at Forfarshire, the second a clutch of T20 matches at Clydesdale – has been long overdue. The former under-19 cap's full debut came against Namibia in Nepal at the start of 2023, the series in which Scotland clinched the previous edition of the Cricket World Cup League 2 tournament they are again deeply immersed in. That looked to be the start of things but instead the 23-year-old has had to be patient until the glut of runs he was chalking up for club side RH Corstorphine became too vast to ignore. 'It's probably not a surprise to me that it's been a while since my last cap,' he admits honestly. 'After the Nepal series in 2023 I moved to Watsonians and didn't really have the greatest of years. 'So last year and this year it was just about trying to get back scoring runs again with RHC, the Scotland A team and things like going down to play for MCC recently against Nepal. 'And it's going alright. Some of the lads were like, 'you surely can't start as well as you did last year'. And I probably haven't but I'm still pleased. It's just been about backing yourself and narrowing it down to make the game as simple as possible. If the ball is there to be hit, then try and hit it.' Nepal has featured regularly on Naylor's international journey so far and he is looking forward to more jousts with them in the weeks ahead. 'Nepal was a cool place and I'll always have good memories because I made my Scotland debut there,' he adds. 'It's definitely one of my favourite countries in the world and I would love to go back. They seem to have fans everywhere. At that MCC game there must have been 70 or so. They seem mad for cricket.' The same can't be said for much of Liverpool where, like Scotland, the sport tends to live in football's shadow. Naylor, though, was undeterred, especially with his local club based just down the road from where he was brought up. 'The reason I got into cricket was because my first club was Alder Sports Club which was a 30-second walk from my house,' he reveals. 'I'm pretty sure I just walked past it one Friday night when junior training was on and I was like, 'I want to do that'. 'I started going, loved it and started watching cricket on the telly. And ever since then, yeah, it's been cricket, cricket, cricket. Obviously it's not big in Liverpool when you're growing up. But at that time, I played every sport going and so I gave cricket a go, too. And cricket and football were the ones that stuck. 'It's probably like in Scotland – there are more people who are into cricket in Liverpool than you might think. They just don't always want to admit it!' Naylor's Scottish connection comes from mum, Marie, who hails from Campbeltown. 'I was there for Easter and try and get across as much as possible,' he adds. 'My friends in Edinburgh love going too just because there are a few golf courses ranked in the top 50 in the UK. I'm now a member of Machrihanish and the lads are always asking if I can get them on. 'But my mum was ecstatic when I got called up for Scotland. The funny thing is she can never watch me play. She'll sit there and look at the floor, whilst my dad does laps of the pitch! But they were buzzing when I got back in the squad.' His old man still jokingly blames Naylor for ending his own cricket career. 'As I came through and started playing senior cricket, my dad started playing with me on a Sunday and then he became the Sunday captain when I was about 16. 'I remember batting with him one time. He called him through for a quick single but fell and dislocated his shoulder. He hasn't played cricket since – and he's never let me forget about it!'
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Team GB step closer to playing Olympic cricket in 2028 as new body formed
Harry Brook said it would be 'pretty cool' to play in the Olympics. Harry Brook said it would be 'pretty cool' to play in the Olympics. Photograph: Joe Giddens/PA The prospect of Team GB playing cricket at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games has moved a step closer with confirmation that the England and Wales Cricket Board and Cricket Scotland are joining forces for the sport's long-awaited return. Cricket has not featured at the Olympics since 1900 but two six-team T20 tournaments for men and women are already booked in for the LA Games in three years' time. The qualification criteria is yet to be announced but the ECB and Cricket Scotland are establishing 'GB Cricket' to oversee their potential teams. Advertisement Related: LA to make Olympic history with two-venue opening ceremony in 2028 The next step is to have this body officially recognised by the International Cricket Council and the British Olympic Association before becoming a full member of the National Olympic Committee. A memorandum of understanding with Cricket Ireland is also being worked on to allow Northern Irish cricketers to be eligible for Team GB. 'It would be pretty cool to be able to play in the Olympics and get an Olympic gold medal,' said Harry Brook, the new captain of England's white-ball side. 'But it's so far away – miles away yet – I haven't even thought about it.' Should qualification for the Olympics come down to world rankings then the ECB believe that England's position – currently third in the men's game and second in the women's – would be used by the ICC. Things appear less clearcut for West Indies, however, who are made up of nations with separate Olympic identities. Advertisement The uncertainty has already prompted Cricket West Indies to issue a statement calling for a 'fair and transparent pathway'. This included the suggestion that, should rankings be used – their men and women currently sit fifth and sixth respectively – a single representative country would then be decided via a regional tournament. Another complication is whether, as hosts, the United States of America should get a spot in each tournament, cutting the number of qualifying berths to just five. Their men are 17th in the ICC T20 rankings, while their women's side sit in 24th place.
The Guardian
6 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
Team GB step closer to playing Olympic cricket in 2028 as new body formed
The prospect of Team GB playing cricket at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games has moved a step closer with confirmation that the England and Wales Cricket Board and Cricket Scotland are joining forces for the sport's long-awaited return. Cricket has not featured at the Olympics since 1900 but two six-team T20 tournaments for men and women are already booked in for the LA Games in three years' time. The qualification criteria is yet to be announced but the ECB and Cricket Scotland are establishing 'GB Cricket' to oversee their potential teams. The next step is to have this body officially recognised by the International Cricket Council and the British Olympic Association before becoming a full member of the National Olympic Committee. A memorandum of understanding with Cricket Ireland is also being worked on to allow Northern Irish cricketers to be eligible for Team GB. 'It would be pretty cool to be able to play in the Olympics and get an Olympic gold medal,' said Harry Brook, the new captain of England's white-ball side. 'But it's so far away – miles away yet – I haven't even thought about it.' Should qualification for the Olympics come down to world rankings then the ECB believe that England's position – currently third in the men's game and second in the women's – would be used by the ICC. Things appear less clearcut for West Indies, however, who are made up of nations with separate Olympic identities. The uncertainty has already prompted Cricket West Indies to issue a statement calling for a 'fair and transparent pathway'. This included the suggestion that, should rankings be used – their men and women currently sit fifth and sixth respectively – a single representative country would then be decided via a regional tournament. Sign up to The Spin Subscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers' thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week's action after newsletter promotion Another complication is whether, as hosts, the United States of America should get a spot in each tournament, cutting the number of qualifying berths to just five. Their men are 17th in the ICC T20 rankings, while their women's side sit in 24th place.
BBC News
7 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Plans for GB team at 2028 Olympics
Plans for a Great Britain team to compete at the Olympics for the first time in 128 years have moved a step is due to be played at the Los Angeles Games in 2028 for the first time since 1900, when GB won gold in England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket Scotland have been in discussions in recent weeks to form a new entity called GB Cricket to oversee a team for LA. Once established, the entity would have to be officially recognised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the British Olympic Association (BOA) before becoming a full member of the National Olympic Committee (NOC).Sources have told BBC Sport that a deal in principle has been agreed with the ICC.A memorandum of understanding (MOU) will be put in place to allow Northern Irish players to participate for GB ODI and T20 captain Harry Brook said: "That would be pretty cool to be able to play in the Olympics and get an Olympic gold medal."But it's so far away. It's miles away yet."In LA six teams in both the men's and women's category will compete in a T20 qualification process has not been announced by the ICC, but it has been agreed that England's men's and women's teams will aim to qualify on behalf of Team and Northern Irish players would then be available for selection should GB qualify.
