Saltires resume County battles

The Scottish Saltires return to the challenges thrown up by English county opposition this weekend, with two home matches in the Clydesdale Bank 40 series, against Durham (Saturday 31 July) and Warwickshire (Sunday 1 August).

These are two of the top counties in England at the present time. Durham were the county champions in 2009, and Warwickshire currently head the CB40 Group C table, having won six of their seven matches so far. But both counties will be missing centrally-contracted England players due to the Test match against Pakistan at Trent Bridge.

In-form Australia A captain George Bailey (pictured right) returns as the Saltires' overseas professional for the remainder of the series. And Gordon Drummond takes charge of the squad in his first outing as captain in this 40-overs-a-side form of the game.

The full Scottish Saltires line-up is as follows: Gordon Drummond (captain); George Bailey, Richie Berrington, Gordon Goudie, Gavin Hamilton, Majid Haq, Moneeb Iqbal, Dougie Lockhart (wicket-keeper), Ross Lyons, Neil McCallum, Preston Mommsen, Matthew Parker and Fraser Watts.

• Both games are being played at the Citylets Titwood ground in Pollokshields, Glasgow, and both games start at 1.45pm. Public entrance is from Dolphin Road, with Maxwell Park the closest railway station just 300 yards away. Tickets are available at the gate, priced at £15, with OAPs and students at £10 and U18s at £7.50.