IT'S true. I kid you not. When cricket's next World Cup is staged in England in four years, Group B will comprise: Australia, West Indies, Pakistan, New Zealand, Bangladesh and, wait for it . . . Scotland.

While the prospect of Rab C Nesbitt and friends marching on Lord's may cause apoplexy in the Long Room, it should not be forgotten that the Scots have a rich cricketing tradition stretching back through Mike Denness to Douglas Jardine.

Now led by former England opener Jim Love, Scotland qualified for the 1999 competition by finishing third in the ICC Trophy in Kuala Lumpur, even though Bob Crampsey - Glaswegian writer, broadcaster, Brain of Britain and Somerset CCC member for 42 years - places the current Tartan XI alongside Cornwall in terms of global might.

Crampsey attended his first cricket match in 1955 when he was in the RAF. ``I saw Lancashire beat Somerset by 10 wickets and that was me smitten. Given my love of the underdog, if Lancashire had been beaten, I suppose I would have become a member at Old Trafford,'' he said.

Denness and Jardine apart, Scotland have produced a steady trickle of fine players; Glasgow Rangers goalkeeper Andy Goram would undoubtedly be one of the bowlers come the World Cup had his football bosses not insisted he give up the game, and, according to Crampsey, legendary Rangers manager and international wing-half Scot Symon took five for 33 against Don Bradman's 1938 Australians.

Mostly, however, the side have been bolstered with the inclusion of 'overseas' players such as West Indians Malcolm Marshall, Gordon Greenidge and Rohan Kanhai.

Another Caribbean visitor who joined a local club as professional recalls the warmth of his welcome in Glasgow. ``The first week I was there the club captain invited me round to his home to 'share the family's Sunday joint'. It was nice enough but where I come from, a joint comes in a cigarette paper, not in a sea of gravy.''