Keith Graham: Signs of improvement

The signs of Scotland's improving international prospects are evident all around us this season, argues Keith Graham...

The signs of emerging green shoots are there for all to see. Scotland, at international level are getting back towards where they should be. Yet, it seems, the Irish for the moment still hold the aces in the pack.

In both the World Cricket League and in the European A team competition in the Channel Isles, they emerged victorious - with Scotland, however, comfortably claiming second spot. Are we at last again challenging for that top Associate Member nation spot?

We might have had another indicator of our improving fortunes had the weather relented and our fixture at Titwood against Bangladesh gone ahead. The growing influence of cricket in the sporting tapestry of Scotland was evidenced by the BBC’s intention of ball-by-ball broadcasting of this official ODI had it gone ahead, following another successful radio outing when England came visiting in June.

But the washed-out game was a cause of further frustration when on the following day Holland and Bangladesh managed to play a shortened game (30 overs a side) with Holland running out the winners and earning themselves a place, along with Ireland, in the ODI rankings. On the grounds of achieving a second victory over a full Test-match playing country (they also beat England in a Twenty20, of course) they leap-frogged us into the rankings.

Our ranking in the game in general, however, might be judged another way. Not only did BBC Radio Scotland's ball-by-ball commentary on the England game go out on 810 medium wave, it also went out on the internet - and amazingly attracted more hits than either Rangers or Celtic routinely get. Had the Bangladesh match been played, one wonders just how many hits might have been made, given the world-wide nature of the internet and the fascination for cricket in Bangladesh! And, had Scotland won, our status may well have risen too!

On that frustrating day when rain denied us that opportunity, a very interesting contrast emerged during conversations with journalists from Bangladesh. They were utterly amazed when told of the number of clubs and leagues in Scotland - for they far outweigh numbers in Bangladesh, despite its teeming millions - the clear commitment to the game and its high-profile first-class Test playing status.

However, there is nothing we can do about the situation as it stands, other than to keep going and to keep trying to achieve that breakthrough. It is interesting to conjecture that here in Scotland we probably have a larger playing base than any other Associate Member nation - and, indeed, a larger one than some of the Test-playing nations, too. I’m sure there are considerably fewer people playing cricket in Ireland compared with an estimated 5,000 league cricketers in Scotland. Holland, I guess, wouldn’t even get near to 500!

On that basis, perhaps, we should in theory be at the top of the tree. The question that is begged, therefore, is why, with so many active players, are we not ahead of the game and more pointedly ahead of either Ireland or Holland in the international pecking order? The other question that is also obviously begged relates to the quality of our domestic game.

I am very much aware that there are clearly a lot of players for whom cricket is nothing more than a recreation, rather than a means to an international end. I latterly played a good deal of recreational cricket myself and I recognise that for many players that is all they want.

However, there is now a clear pathway for those who harbour more serious ambitions that did not exist until relatively recently and which certainly didn’t exist during my playing years. Since the decision during the 1990s to embrace a truly international dimension and become ICC Associate Members, a new route to the top has emerged.

During the same time span, however, the overall quality of domestic cricket in Scotland has, I believe, deteriorated. It is therefore a less challenging arena for those with real ambition. Everybody, I’m sure, acknowledges that the only way to keep on improving is to play repeatedly against better players. And that is perhaps what our domestic game is failing to do. The challenge is simply not there. Furthermore, how do you raise standards when the international dimension is incidental - and, indeed, peripheral - in the eyes of so many clubs?

Curiously enough a similar dilemma, albeit at a slightly different level, has occurred in the English game. The England selectors were eager for Kevin Pietersen to be given an outing by Hampshire prior to England’s first Test against Pakistan, only to have their request rejected amid claims that the counties should be putting England’s interests ahead of their own!

It is perhaps a more significant problem here in Scotland and it is a problem that is by no means unique to cricket. In one respect, it may just be that there is not a solution to be found within the domestic structure, although the new regional competition does have an important role to play. By and large, however, we may have to seek a solution on a different stage and increase our more nationally-orientated involvement through more and more Lions games against English county second elevens and the like and more international cricket at various age levels.

However, the fulfilment of such ambitions is costly. Currently Cricket Scotland does not have a main sponsor, so resources are inevitably thinly spread. And I can already hear club selectors complaining that their best young players are always away playing in this or that international competition and are therefore increasingly unavailable for their clubs. Well that perhaps is how it has to be – for the greater good! Perhaps what I am looking for is a better conduit through from the grassroots to the top level of international cricket, with everyone pulling in the same direction … for that greater good.

The emergence of young Lions has been a real breakthrough. Challenging these emerging young players by asking them to play against really tough opposition is already paying dividends. We now arguably have the strongest pool of players we have ever had and that, I suggest, is due to the involvement of younger players in the Lions programme and in a growing variety of international tournaments.

The other dimension that is needed for us to make that vital breakthrough is self-belief. That is something I believe can evolve as more of these emerging players grow into their roles and become part of the international family. It is when they are wearing the Saltire that they may truly find their spiritual home. Let them grow into the team together. I have always believed that teams gel better as partnerships are established … batting and bowling partnerships. Getting used to success together builds confidence as well as establishing friendly competition.

And there were, this week, more green shoots planted across in the Emerald Isle when Scotland’s U19s took on the best and charged to the top of the rankings by beating everyone, including the Irish on their own patch. Craig Wright’s boys returned home with the trophy, which augers really well for the future!

This weekend, the Saltires resume their battles with the top English counties, once more reinforced by the in-form Aussie A skipper George Bailey. Titwood is the venue on Saturday and Sunday with Durham and Warwickshire the opposition – both teams of great depth and experience. Might we be optimistic and hope that some of those green shoots might blossom?