Facing one of the toughest propositions of his coaching career, Craig Wallace is happy to latch onto whatever positives he can find.
The former Scotland wicket-keeper yesterday named his squad for next month’s women’s World Cup Qualifier in Pakistan, a process that will see his side go up against some of the world’s leading nations in an unfamiliar setting and in a format of the game which they have little experience of.
If that wasn’t already sufficiently daunting, the Wildcats will be battling for just two spaces at a World Cup that will involve only eight countries. At a time when just about every other global tournament in every other sport is expanding to welcome more participants, giving so few nations a chance of reaching a World Cup finals doesn’t exactly feel in the spirit of “growing the game”.
Still, Wallace and Scotland can only play the hand they have been dealt as they step up their preparations for the mini-tournament that gets underway on April 9. They have not played a significant amount of 50-over cricket over the years with more focus placed on T20, while Pakistan is not a setting that either Wallace – from his own playing days – or most of his squad are familiar with either.
It would be considered the mother of all upsets if Scotland could somehow land a top-two finish to reach the finals but all Wallace can do is ready his squad as best he can.
“It’s definitely going to be a challenge for us,” admitted the head coach. “With it only being an eight-team World Cup it’s really tough to get into it. But it’s providing us with a really good qualifying tournament to be a part of. The standard of every team will be at a very good level which is exciting for us.
“Going out to Pakistan will be something new to most of us – I never played out there – so it will be about trying to adapt to the condition as best and as quickly as we can. We’ve also not played a lot of ODIs (one-day internationals) but I feel that this is a format that can suit us better, especially in that middle period when we're batting.
“I feel like we’ve developed a lot over the past four or five months since last year's T20 World Cup. We just had a training camp in Desert Springs and I was really impressed with how much the players have kicked on."
Scotland do at least have one thing going in their favour. This will be a quickfire tournament, with the team playing five matches in the space of just nine days. It will be demanding physically with so little time to recover but it is a format familiar to the Scots.
“This schedule is like a proper qualifier with the games coming thick and fast,” added Wallace. “That’s what we’re used to compared to last year’s World Cup where there was a game every three or four days. This one will be more of a dogfight which ought to go in our favour.”
Wallace has named a mostly familiar squad with a few notable changes since last year’s World Cup. Lorna Jack has since retired, Saskia Horley is taking a break from cricket while Olivia Bell is nursing a long-term back injury.
Their absence, however, has created opportunities for others, with Ellen Watson and Nayma Sheikh recalled and former under-19 cap Pippa Sproul earning a maiden call-up to the 15-strong squad.
“It’s always a good thing to have a couple of changes,” added Wallace. “It’s unfortunate that Liv is injured, Lorna has retired and Saskia is stepping away for a while but it’s given us the opportunity to bring in a few different faces for this tournament which is really exciting.”
Wallace was in Dundee yesterday to name his squad while also lending his support to the National Table Cricket Festival taking place in his hometown. Table cricket is cricket played on table tennis tables especially designed to give participants with a disability the opportunity to get involved, and Wallace was happy to lend his support.
“It’s a really fun game, simple and one that everyone can play. We’re trying to build inclusivity and accessibility to cricket for all and this is a great way of doing that. We had 10 schools down playing and getting involved and it was a lot of fun.”
