Scotland Had Hypothetical Plans In Place For T20 WC Participation, Says Lindblade

Scotland had hypothetical plans in place for T20 WC participation, says Lindblade (Image Source: IANS)

While CEO Trudy Lindblade: Since the time Scotland were confirmed to replace Bangladesh in the 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup, Cricket Scotland have been working around the clock to zero in on a 15-member squad and make a late scramble to secure visas and reach India in the next seven days.

While CEO Trudy Lindblade is at the organisation’s headquarters in Edinburgh, Head of Performance Steve Snell is in Nepal with the women’s team for the T20 World Cup qualifiers. There’s been constant messaging of the duo with the ICC representatives in India and Dubai, who, in turn, are in touch with relevant people in the BCCI, on a WhatsApp group to handle all the logistics seamlessly.

Players and coaches are in the middle of submitting their visas with the hope of getting to India as quickly as possible to play in their fifth men’s T20 World Cup. Scotland are scheduled to play two warm-up games in Bengaluru, before playing their Group C fixtures – three at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata against West Indies, Italy, and England – before taking on Nepal at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

This wasn’t the case a week ago, when slight murmurs of Scotland replacing Bangladesh in the mega event began due to their 14th position in rankings – the best position for a team not originally in the tournament. Trudy acknowledged the board had planned well in anticipation of being considered as a potential replacement for Bangladesh, noting that readiness was key if the opportunity arose.

“We, like everybody around the world, were watching the situation, and it’s something for the ICC to deal with. It's their tournament, and we're a member nation, but we could see that our name was being spoken about in the media. So, we also know our ranking, all of the facts, and things like that.

“We knew that if something was to occur -- that maybe Scotland would be one of the countries that was considered. So that just meant good planning that if we were being considered, we did some hypothetical scenario planning, and that's what any good business would do. We stood up a small group that could start doing some hypothetical planning should that come to fruition.

“I think that will hold us in good stead now that that decision has been made because it has meant that we had sort of pre-thought through some of those things that we'd had to do. We had an order of things of how we would get to India in less than seven days because essentially we need to get to India within the next week,” Trudy told IANS in a virtual press conference on Monday.

Despite the compressed timeframe, Trudy insisted Scotland remain match-ready year-round and can hit the ground running in the World Cup, for which they missed qualification after finishing fourth in the European qualifiers.

“It's a very fair question, but one of the things I will say is that we are always ready as associate cricketers. We train all year round and plan as well. Cricket is a global sport that's 365 days a year. We've had squad members playing franchise cricket around the world, plus our winter training.

“I wrote a note to my staff this morning saying the men will be in training tonight, and we've gone from winter training to World Cup preparation. So, we've just flipped on the wording, but also worth remembering we've got two other teams playing around the world at the moment too.

“So it is a really busy time for Scottish cricket and Cricket Scotland. Our women played this morning in Nepal and beat Thailand as part of the Women's World Cup qualifier, which will be in England later this year, and we're vying for that. We've also got the under-19 men who are currently playing in the USA in the playoffs. So lots going on,” she said.

Steven Snell, Cricket Scotland’s Head of Performance, acknowledged the challenging circumstances, but felt the lack of preparation could work in Scotland's favour and that the pressure is on their opponents. “In terms of just, obviously, in terms of a preparation perspective, we want to be as competitive as we possibly can be at the World Cup.

“But I think we're actually quite relaxed in the sense that the pressure is on the other teams. I mean, with Scotland coming off the back of a very kind of dry winter where, quite frankly, our priority has been on other areas, off the field in terms of we're working really hard on our fitness, working hard on our recruitment in terms of our new men's head coach, and new assistant coach coming in.

“So my focus was really on transitioning the team in terms of where our eye has been and also our athletic development to the 2027 and 2028 World Cup with Owen (Dawkins), our new head coach. Within a couple of weeks of him being appointed, and all of a sudden, we're now at a World Cup in India. So the expectation for me is, I really don't know how we're going to play.

“I back ourselves to be really, really competitive. But the other teams have had all this preparation time, all the time to configure their squads, their game plan, look at the conditions, etc. The pressure will be on the other teams to beat us, really, because with all that preparation time, then we'll certainly be underdogs in that regard,” he said to IANS.

While qualification to the Super Eights phase would be a marker of success for Scotland, Snell emphasised Scotland won't burden themselves with expectations, especially with their preparation goalpost shifted from the ODI tri-series in Namibia to the T20 World Cup in India.

“That's a really good question. It's something that I've thought an awful lot about. Ultimately, you are judged by your results. The success will be winning matches, and for my eyes, qualification for that next phase- that Super Eights phase. I think it is too much to go into in terms of the playing conditions as of yet.

“But certainly success will be qualifying for that group. But we'll be putting the pressure on the team that we should be doing that - certainly not. It's a really tough group, and all the games are going to be really tough,” he said.

The transition from Scotland's biting winter cold to the heat in India presents another challenge, though Snell expressed confidence in the squad's fitness preparation and experienced players accustomed to global conditions.

“In terms of preparation, what do we expect? Obviously, the heat is going to be a factor. Most of you who have spent any time in Edinburgh or Glasgow or further up north in Aberdeen, it's pretty cold in Scotland at this time of year. So it's going to be a bit of a transition for the players. We haven't had too much time to acclimatise to the heat.

“But also, we have got some very experienced players who are used to playing around the world in these conditions as well. So I anticipate that not being a huge issue. As I said, we place a huge amount of emphasis on our fitness this winter as well to make sure that we're in spaces where we're not just able to get through a game, we're able to turn up and have players that can dominate a game in the trickiest of conditions.

“So, as I said, I'm optimistic about where our players are in that regard. But from a cricketing perspective, we'd have loved to have played on hard surfaces with shorter boundaries and screaming fans and playing against other international top-tier teams in preparation for that. That simply hasn't been a possibility, and you know what? We're really comfortable with that. We're really at ease in terms of what our winter has looked like and the reasons for that,” he elaborated.

Scotland haven’t played an international game since September last year, with their last T20I game in India coming during the 2016 edition of the T20 World Cup. “Certainly, the feel around the group is that excitement about what we can achieve, what we can show the Scottish and the worldwide cricketing public.

“So, as I said, I'm optimistic about where our players are in that regard. But from a cricketing perspective, we'd have loved to have played on hard surfaces with shorter boundaries and screaming fans and playing against other international top-tier teams in preparation for that. That simply hasn't been a possibility, and you know what? We're really comfortable with that. We're really at ease in terms of what our winter has looked like and the reasons for that,” he elaborated.

“As such, we're going into this tournament with not just optimism for the tournament, but also for the future of Scottish cricket. We've got some excellent players as well that are going to go and showcase that, I'm sure,” concluded Snell.

Article Source: IANS