Cricket Scotland officials are hoping that a move to a new national centre on the outskirts of Edinburgh will help boost ambitious plans to raise the profile of the sport.
At a media briefing held in the capital yesterday, Roddy Smith, the organisation's chief executive, and Keith Oliver, its chairman, unveiled parts of the strategic plan that will be issued to member clubs in the next few weeks.
Top of their priority list is to advance plans to find a permanent home for the game, which they are hoping they will be able to share with a national tennis centre at the site of the former Dunfermline College of Physical Education at Cramond, with the aim of it being operational by 2015. They noted that the site in question is merely their preferred option and that others are being considered.
The need to build a facility with the modern drainage that allows English county grounds to become playable almost immediately after rain stops has been highlighted by the dismal weather this summer, but it will cost in the hefty region of £4m.
They are consequently lobbying the Scottish government, as well as sportscotland, to try to secure enough of the funding to then persuade the International Cricket Council to offer further aid before seeking support from private investors. They have already received ring-fenced support from the ICC which will be spent on taking the national squad on two tours this winter, to South Africa and then to the sub-continent, providing much-needed time in the middle at a moment when all Scotland's players, including those based in England, are available.
With Australia's tourists lined up to visit Scotland on September 3, they are aiming to attract another Test nation to play a one-day international as a warm-up to the Champions Trophy, which is in England next summer, while they also aim to further strengthen the calendar by bringing in A teams from those Test countries.
There are also plans to introduce a cricketing equivalent of rugby's RaboDirect Pro12 competition to help improve the feeder system to the national team.
"The middle tier of Scottish cricket, between the club game and the national team, needs beefed up," said Smith. He added that there is confidence that the existing regional three-team set-up is right but, with the Irish now looking at something similar and the Dutch also needing a similar sort of development to bring on their players, there is considerable scope for expansion.
Competition for Scottish places will also be enhanced by changes to the ICC's eligibility laws that will mean that players born in England or elsewhere who have British passports but parents who are Scottish will no longer have to undergo a four year residential qualification.
"We have contacted the Professional Cricketers Association to invite players to come forward and have had some contact with some players who believe they are eligible," said Smith, who promised to publish a full list of contenders once that process is complete.
Looking to the longer term, they are also lobbying for a return to the Commonwealth Games, which would greatly enhance Cricket Scotland's status when seeking sportscotland's funding in future times.
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