Scotland announce squad

John Blain

New Scotland coach Peter Steindl is confident he has a strong squad at his disposal, after his winter training party was named.

Steindl and his assistant Adrian Birrell - formerly Ireland’s World Cup coach - will have a first look at their new charges when the national squad gathers for training next month.

Among them will be familiar names from county cricket and Scotland’s World Cup campaigns, such as John Blain, Dougie Brown, Gavin Hamilton and Kyle Coetzer.

Steindl said: “We have a strong nucleus of experienced players from which to choose, and our hope is that the A squad will challenge these players hard for their places in the lead-up to the ICC World Cup qualifier in 2009.

“We will have an intensive three-month indoor schedule, followed by our training camp and games in Namibia in March and April. Adrian and I are looking forward immensely to working with the squad.”

Scotland squad: J Blain, M Haq, O Hussain (all Ferguslie), D Brown, D Nel (both Barnt Green), K Coetzer (Durham), G Drummond (Watsonians), R Lyons, Q Sheikh (both Clydesdale), N McCallum, S Smith (both Grange), G Hamilton, N Poonia (Warwickshire), G Rogers (Stenhousemuir), C Smith (wkt, Aberdeenshire), R Watson (Forfarshire), F Watts (Carlton), C Wright (Greenock).

Scotland A squad: R Berrington, S Weeraratna (both Greenock), E Chalmers (Watsonians), S Coetzer, G Goudie, J Stander (all Stoneywood Dyce), G Holmes, N MacRae, G Maiden, (all Grange), M Iqbal (Durham), S Knox (Heriots), D Lockhart (wkt, West of Scotland), S MacLennan (Oxford University/Grange), C MacLeod (Warwickshire) U Mohammed (Forfarshire), S Murray (Ferguslie), Z Bashir, K Farid (both Clydesdale), S Redhead (Durham Academy).