Head coach Grant Bradburn hopeful of Test Status for Scotland in the future

Bradburn envisages a bright future for the traditional cricket nation.

Scotland Head coach Grant Bradburn. (Getty)

Scotland head coach Grant Bradburn has come out and expressed that he envisages ICC full membership and subsequently Test Status for his team in the future. Scotland has always been a traditional cricket culture and has a domestic scene where the red ball game is played across regions but their progress has always been jolted because of the way the game is run by the game's governing body and its wealthiest boards. Scotland would receive in 10 years, the amount Zimbabwe gets from the ICC in one. 

In an interview recently given to SportStar, Bradburn said, "We were very pleased for Ireland for the way they fought. The glass ceiling is broken and they have shown Full Membership isn’t impossible. We fully respect their number of iconic victories in the past 10 years. They deserved to be elevated. It has given us inspiration and hope that Scotland can be the next Full Member"

Scotland recently went on to beat the no.1 ODI side in the world, England at Edinburgh and this has given Bradburn immense belief that sky is the limit.

"In 2016, when we came back from the T20 World Cup in India, I sat down with the team and I presented to them the number of ‘almost victories’ we had experienced. It also included games in the World Cup in 2015, especially the one against Bangladesh (which Scotland lost by six wickets despite setting a target of 319). There were also close games against Afghanistan and Zimbabwe throughout that period. In all games, the door of victory was jammed. The Scotland team was not skilled or confident enough to walk through"

"I told them we could carry on as we were and win some games, but that way we would be inconsistent. The harder pathway was to be more selfless and understand that we play for the team. The boys chose the harder route and I worked hard to bring in an attitude and aggression just like how a Full Member would play the game"

Bradburn further added, "Among our top 20 players, half of them are playing county. For us, it is a double-edged sword because we have a massive advantage being right next to England and the English county system. Our players can move freely and we also take our A-team and developing team to the counties. At times, we can’t have some of our players back for big games because the county is their primary employer. Being an Associate Member, we don’t have enough funding to make Scotland the main employer. A big part of my job is to work with county coaches and directors trying to ensure that we are working for the best interest of the player, trying to get them available for key games and also allowing the county to have them when they need. We try to work together"

Former Zimbabwe great Heath Streak recently joined Scotland as a consultant. Bradburn talked about this and said, "Heath is a respected person who has added great value in a short span of time. He is someone who knows our players well and has immense knowledge of the modern T20 game. Adding Heath's experience is a clear sign for us that Scotland is intent on moving further with T20 skills to break into the top 10 teams"

 

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 19 Jun, 2018

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