Scots look for upset

Scotland's Majid Haq and Neil McCallum © Getty Images

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Scotland batsman Neil McCallum is hoping the frenetic nature of the limited-overs format will help his side’s chances of causing an upset at the ICC Twenty20 World Cup starting next week.

Scotland face warm-up matches against Bangladesh on Saturday and Zimbabwe on Sunday before starting their Twenty20 campaign against Pakistan on September 12 and then playing India the following day.

McCallum is expecting the Scots’ Group D rivals to field full-strength line-ups for the encounters in Durban, and will relish the challenge of taking on some of the best players in the world.

“I think they will probably play their strongest sides,” he said.

“We will look to take them on, whatever they throw at us. It’s going to be a fantastic opportunity to have a go at these guys.

“Our best results by far in the last couple of years have come against some of the county sides when we’ve had reduced-overs matches, so we’re looking forward to playing the shorter version of the game and, who knows, on the day we might be able to upset them.”

A relative latecomer to the international scene having made his Scotland bow only last year, the 29-year-old has become the most consistent scorer for his side in both the long and short forms of the game over the past 12 months.

Since hitting 68 on his ODI debut against Pakistan, the Edinburgh-born right-hander played a starring role in the Scots’ dramatic win over Ireland at the ICC World Cricket League in Nairobi in January and more recently registered a career-high 181 against Netherlands in the Intercontinental Cup.

After a disappointing World Cup campaign for Scotland in the Caribbean, McCallum is excited at the prospect of again having the chance to shine on a big stage.

He said: “It will be fantastic, I’m really looking forward to it. There will be huge crowds at the games and with two big nations like Pakistan and India against us it will be a fantastic challenge - one we’re all looking forward to.

“Anything can happen - it’s such a short game that if someone gets early wickets up front and puts them on the back foot or if some of our batsmen play a good innings on the day there’s no reason why we can’t cause an upset.”

McCallum will be playing cricket in South Africa for the first time, with a Christmas holiday in 2001 his only other experience of visiting the country.

But the timing of the competition has made for a hectic schedule for McCallum, who has been given time off from his job as a PE teacher at George Watson's School in Edinburgh in order to take part.

“The school has been fantastic,” he said.

“Obviously I’ve only been back eight or nine days, and I’m just getting to know the kids’ names.

“(But) a lot of them have been following the cricket over the summer so hopefully we can put in some good performances and give them something to talk about when we get back!”