While watching a World Cup Qualifier game, my 9-year-old Cricket crazy nephew asked “ Who are these guys? Do Scotland and UAE also play cricket? It was not his fault that he couldn’t recognise guys like Peter Van der Merve or Rohan Mustafa or Shaiman Anwar. Life of a cricket fan revolves around top countries or maximum to 12 test nations, and this two-part series brings you some unknown heroes of Associate Cricket.
2Calum McLeod (Scotland):
Calum appeared on international stage as a 21-year-old substitute in 2009 Ashes but went on to start his career with Scotland in 2008. He rose to prominence only in 2014 when he helped Scotland qualify for 2015 World Cup with a brilliant 175 against Canada at Christchurch followed by a breathtaking 113 off just 62 balls against Canada.
Playing against some of the elite cricketers in World Cup gave his Career much-needed consistency, and since then he hasn’t looked back. Since World Cup 2015 he has played 29 matches and has scored 1077 runs at an average of almost 40. He can be tagged among one of the best associate 5 batsmen in the modern game. It is due to him and Kyle Coetzer that Scotland have started to challenge the good teams on a consistent basis. At 29, he might be able to get another shot to play another World Cup in 2023.
