ANDREW Flintoff might be wary of letting one counter- attack define his perception of the strength of Scottish cricket, but the events of Bank Holiday Monday must have caused England's totem to wonder whether a year of remedial work had been squeezed into eight days.
Flintoff's Lancashire encountered a pitiful Saltires side at Citylets Grange on 27 April, but the Scots performed a U-turn to maintain a near-miraculous Old Trafford record on Monday.
Craig Wright has seen enough contradictory performances in a de
cade of international service to boggle the mind, but perhaps the Saltires' reputation as a curate's egg has never been better demonstrated than in this embryonic season. Unique to Scotland's cricketers seems to be the ability to plumb the depths of poor form over a sustained period before producing a result so confounding and impressive it makes any obstacle seem within breach. They can also perform the same routine in reverse.
After a number of numbing anti-climaxes in 2007, this year began with a remarkable four-day match in Namibia that the host nation won in the last breaths. But the beginning of the home season was alarming for Ryan Watson's team: all out for 72 against Lancashire in front of a healthy Edinburgh crowd. The resultant eight-wicket drubbing was followed by last Sunday's visit to Derbyshire where another inadequate total – 169 – was picked off by the professionals.
And so to Old Trafford, where the Saltires remained unbeaten from two inspired efforts in past campaigns, but which promised only to further deflate morale if the gap on show in Lancashire's April trip north was any sort of form guide. For the third time in the FP Trophy, the Scots lost the toss and were asked to bat and, true enough, with Watson and Majid Haq in absentia, time-honoured deficiencies at the top of the batting order allowed Flintoff and Co to restrict the whipping boys of the northern section to a meagre 155. From which point onward, the match – and perhaps the whole campaign – were flipped upside down.
"You just have to stay focused, and not dwell on the fact that our batting hasn't been great again," said Wright yesterday, denying that morale was as low in the dressing room as it would have been in the mind of any supporter watching the game on the internet. "You have to stick to the simple plan of trying to get balls in the right place because, as soon as you dwell on a negative thing that has happened, you'll never get back in the game."
John Blain and Dewald Nel set about the vaunted Red Rose county like a modest-paced Lillee and Thomson, accounting for five batsmen including Mal Loye, Flintoff and an old nemesis, Pakistan's Mohammad Yousuf, with barely 40 on the board. Wright, who has played his part in several such upsets, then entered on cue to leave Lancashire on 44 for 7, a scoreline to impair the reputation of far lesser institutions.
"We didn't count our chickens because we have been in that situation before and let it slip," said Wright. Sure enough, the tail wagged, but the Saltires, admirably, refused to let go. Never did the hosts get on top of what became a run chase. Glenn Rogers was miserly and when Scotland A captain Gordon Drummond was assigned death-bowling duties, he held his nerve to restrict Lancashire to six off the last over.
"Old Trafford – we go there and win. It seems to be as simple as that," laughed Wright. "We have actually written to the ECB asking if we can play all our home games there from now on.
"But seriously, it's amazing how similar the three games have been. Each time we have batted first and not posted a huge score, but managed to defend it. Our bowling has been fantastic and all the bowlers did their jobs on Monday. We have done it before, and that's why in situations like that we do back our bowlers.
"Whether this will inspire us to give more consistent performances only time will tell. I think we are a decent cricket team when we play to our potential, but consistency has always been a problem."
What the part-time Saltires lack in class they atone for with pleasing quantities of pluck. They have deservedly left Manchester in a triumphant haze – again – with credit due to Lazarus for inspiration.
The full article contains 748 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
