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Only two days after receiving a call to the T20 World Cup 2026, Scotland have revealed their squad without a sponsor. (AP Photo)
Cricket Scotland was notified of their eleventh-hour inclusion in the Men’s 2026 T20 World Cup last Saturday by the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) chief executive, Sanjog Gupta, only a week before the official deadline for all 20 teams to reveal their squads for the showpiece event. Scotland, were effectively the 21st team to enter the World Cup, after Bangladesh, who had previously revealed their squad pulled out out after the ongoing tensions with co-hosts India last week.
Within 48 hours, they have named their squad with 38-year-old Richie Berrington set to lead the team in their seventh World Cup appearance.
There have been questions over how Scotland qualified for the tournament over Jersey, who had finished above them in the European qualifiers. But with the T20I rankings being taken into consideration, the 14th-ranked Scotland invited to the 20-team event, starting February 7.
Downplaying those criticisms in a chat with ESPNcricinfo, Cricket Scotland’s chief executive from Australia, Trudy Lindblade, said: “All we know is that we have been invited to participate in the World Cup. We are a team that is ranked 14th in the world. We are also a strong team that plays consistently throughout the year.
‘Sympathy for Bangladesh’
“That World Cup [qualifier] for us was not how we normally play, and therefore we are just pleased to be at this World Cup… We are happy to step in, although it is unique and challenging circumstances and we absolutely recognise that.”
“We certainly have [sympathy] for the Bangladesh team,” Lindblade added. “Obviously, this is not how we wanted to go to a World Cup. There is a qualification process and nobody wants to qualify or attend or be invited to a World Cup in the way that we have done. We acknowledge it is certainly unique circumstances by our participation, and we do feel for the Bangladesh players.”
All hands on deck
The unpredictable nature of qualification has almost meant that Scotland’s limited backroom staff tallying only a few dozen members have been working overtime over the past few days.
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“The Cricket Scotland team is just over 30 staff – that’s everything from our coaching staff to office staff and our development team – so we’re not very big. This is a lot to do also when we’ve got two teams touring: we’ve got the [men’s] Under-19s currently playing, and we cannot lose focus from our women in Nepal, who also are trying to qualify for a T20 World Cup,” Lindblade added.
Scotland, who narrowly missed out on the Super 8 stage at the 2024 T20 World Cup in a packed group and nearly gave a scare to former champions Australia, could also enter the tournament without a sponsor and a kit.
Replacing Bangladesh in Group C, Scotland will take on West Indies on February 7 in Kolkata, followed by matches against Italy and England at the same venue before their final game against Nepal in Mumbai.
“If we’ve got kits, that’s a bonus. If not, you might see us in our regular Cricket Scotland playing kits,” Lindblade told BBC .
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“We’ve got seven days to turn around a sponsor.”
English (US) ·