The Scottish Saltires in 2005 are playing in the Second Division of the totesport League, in what will be their last season in the English one-day league. They will also compete for a World Cup place in the ICC Trophy and in the first-class ICC Intercontinental Cup.
They suffered the disappointment of their first Sunday League game, against Durham being abandoned without a ball being bowled. On 5 May they were then unceremoniously dumped out of the C&G Trophy by Worcestershire. Heavy totesport League defeats followed against Kent, Somerset, Surrey and Sussex, but they recovered to win their second game of the season in a fine effort at Taunton against Somerset. That was followed up by a tie against Derbyshire and a 19-run defeat against Leicestershire, the latter match being much less closely contested than the scoreline suggests. Returning to the National League against Leicestershire, they lost by seven wickets to stay bottom of the National League, and August started with another loss, to Yorkshire. A crowd-pleaser against the Australian cricket team was rained off, and a week later the team endured four National League losses within the space of a week. Then there were two weeks off, before the team continued on their losing ways against Warwickshire, and they also lost to Surrey to end the season.
Players
Yasir Arafat
John Blain*
James Brinkley
Dougie Brown*
Asim Butt
Kyle Coetzer*
Stuart Coetzer
Gordon Goudie
Cedric English
Gavin Hamilton*
Majid Haq
Paul Hoffmann
Steven Knox
Douglas Lockhart
Gregor Maiden
Dewald Nel
Colin Smith
Simon Smith
Ian Stanger
Ryan Watson
Fraser Watts
Greig Williamson
*These players play for other teams in the totesport League
Tables
totesport League
totesport League
Scotland v Durham (1 May)
Match abandoned - Scotland (2pts), Durham (2pts)
This match, which was due to be played at The Grange, Edinburgh, was rained off without a ball being bowled. (BBC news)
Scotland v Worcestershire (4–5 May)
Worcestershire beat Scotland by 10 wickets to progress to Round Two of the C&G Trophy
The first day at The Grange saw no play because of rain. After losing the toss, Scotland were put in, and the bowlers immediately made it very difficult for Scotland. It took them six overs to make their first ten runs, and every time they tried to accelerate, they lost wickets. In the end, they could only muster 134 all out in 46.5 overs. Vikram Solanki and Stephen Moore made this target look easy, passing the required 135 runs without losing a wicket in 5 balls fewer than 20 overs. Both batsmen made half-centuries. (Cricinfo scorecard)
Scotland v Kent (8 May)
Kent (4pts) beat Scotland (0pts) by 93 runs (D/L method)
Kent Spitfires demolished the Scottish Saltires at their home ground in a rain-haunted match. Winning the toss and bowling, Scotland didn't quite get the wickets they wanted, the South African Martin van Jaarsveld top-scoring for Kent with 57 while Darren Stevens smashed 51 off 30 balls towards the end. Scotland's innings was frequently interrupted by rain and Darren Stevens' bowling - he took five for 32, his first career five-for, as Scotland crawled to 134 all out in 32.2 overs - 94 short of the adjusted target, coincidentally exactly the same as Kent had made, but shortened by seven overs. (Cricinfo scorecard)
Scotland v Somerset (11 May)
Somerset (4pts) beat Scotland (0pts) by 16 runs
Somerset Sabres won thanks to a slogging effort by all-rounder Ian Blackwell who rescued them from a potentially dangerous position at Edinburgh. Winning the toss and batting, Scottish Saltires' bowlers Asim Butt, Majid Haq and Paul Hoffmann (who bowled 9 overs for 14 runs) tied the visitors down to 145 for 5 before Blackwell came on. Blackwell then proceeded to slam everything out of sight, smacking six sixes and seven fours in his 86 and lifting Somerset to 264 for 7. Colin Smith was the star of Scotland's reply, making 67, but they were never seriously in the chase, especially after Andrew Caddick removed Pakistani all-rounder Yasir Arafat and Smith. (Cricinfo scorecard)
Scotland v Surrey (20 May)