As the reality of Scotland's entry into the English NCL comes ever closer, Scottish Cricket's Chief Executive, Gwynne Jones, announced the first squad of players to go into winter training.

"As we get into 2003 the squad will be reduced in numbers, but as you can see from the size of this squad, we want to see what a range of players have to offer us"

A number of Scotland's younger players are wintering abroad: Fraser Watts, Gregor Maiden and Dom Rigby are all in Australia, whilst Moneeb Iqbal is in Pakistan and Kyle Coetzer in South Africa. In addition to Moneeb Iqbal, seven other of Scotland's European Championship winning Under 19 Squad have broken through to senior training: Qasim Sheikh, Stuart Murray, Brendan McKerchar, Robert More, Majid Haq, Kyle Coetzer and Harmanjit Singh.

Whilst a Scotland's youth policy is starting to make inroads into the senior squad, the value of experience as a valuable commodity, has also been recognised with the inclusion of Bryn Lockie, Asim Butt and Bruce Patterson.

Gregor Maiden returns to the Scottish squad after a brief sojourn to England and the physio's bench. Although an injury stopped him playing for Lancashire last year, Gregor is now fully fit and free to play for Scotland.

In addition, Cedric English now qualifies, through residency, to play for Scotland in his own right, unlike in 2002 where he could only play as an overseas professional.

Jones concluded:

"We believe this squad will form a great foundation for many years to come, and most imminently for our entry into the National League next year and the qualifying groups for the 2007 World Cup"

Scottish Cricket Senior Winter Training Squad 2002/2003

James Brinkley, Asim Butt, Kyle Coetzer, David Cox, Cedric English, Steven Gilmour, Majid Haq, Paul Hoffmann, Moneeb Iqbal, Jamie Kerr, Douglas Lockhart, Bryn Lockie, Gregor Maiden, Neil McCallum, Brendan McKerchar, Neil McRae, Robert More, Stuart Murray, Drew Parsons, Sanjay Patel, Bruce Patterson, Dom Rigby, Qasim Sheikh, Harmanjit Singh, Colin Smith, Simon Smith, Ian Stanger, Peter Steindl, Andy Tennant, Kevin Thomson, Ryan Watson, Fraser Watts, Greig Williamson, Craig Wright

© Scottish Cricket Ltd