Boost For Scotland As Six Players Become Eligible

Boost For Scotland As Six Players Become Eligible

Neil Carter is one of six players who are now eligible to play for Scotland under a new ICC ruling

©REUTERS / Action Images

Cricket Scotland have confirmed that six players have become eligible for selection following approval from the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Neil Carter, Richard Coughtrie, Matthew Machan, David Murphy, Rob Taylor and Iain Wardlaw are now designated 'deemed national' through their Scottish parentage and heritage.

Coughtrie, Machan, Murphy and Taylor travelled to South Africa with the Scotland team late last year to play a series of Twenty20 matches but those matches were not full internationals.

South African-born Carter recently ended his county career with Warwickshire having spent 12 years at Edgbaston while Wardlaw made his Yorkshire debut in 2011.

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"This confirmation goes someway to levelling the playing field in terms of eligibility," Andy Tennent, Cricket Scotland Performance Director, said.

"To this point Scotland has been at a disadvantage as the nations we compete against generally have the ability to grant nationality by issuing ancestral passports. This is something that Scotland isn’t able to do, and as a result players who have the right to deem themselves Scottish through parentage have missed out on the opportunity to play for their country.

"The exceptional circumstances ruling by ICC definitely helps to redress the balance. In real terms however, the ruling merely helps brings cricket into line with most other sports where parentage and even grand parentage is a long accepted criterion for eligibility. ”

He added: "We will continue to work tirelessly to develop and improve our player development programmes and ensure that talented players raised in Scotland are given the best opportunity to fulfil their potential. In reality, having a wider talent pool to pick from will help raise the standard of players that we produce."

© Cricket World 2013