GEORGE SALMOND could have been forgiven a frisson of déjà vu as he watched his Scottish compatriots slip to an agonising last-gasp defeat against Afghanistan at the World Cup last week.
After all, as his country's captain when they embarked on their maiden campaign in the global event in 1999, Salmond found himself with the same opportunity to make history, only for the chance to go abegging.
On that occasion, the tournament was being staged in Britain and the Scots performed in Edinburgh against Bangladesh. For the first hour of the contest, almost everything went in their favour as they ripped the guts out of the Asians' top order, with John Blain and Asim Butt reducing their opponents to 26 for 5. Indeed, it should have been even better: Iain Philip dropped Minhajul Abedin in the slips, whereupon he capitalised with a man-of-the-match knock of 68 not out as his side made 185 for 9.
But, at that stage, Salmond still felt confident. "We had taken on Bangladesh the year before and done well, so there was nothing to choose between the teams," said Salmond, who earned 146 caps, more than 100 of them as captain. "Unfortunately, we lost early wickets and although Gavin Hamilton turned things round, he was eventually run out and we finished 22 runs short. I can tell you we were very disappointed with the result. It was worse than being bowled out for 60-odd by the West Indies at Grace Road because we were up against [Courtney] Walsh and [Curtly] Ambrose in Leicester and they were two of the best there have ever been.
"When I look back, I can definitely see parallels between that match and how Scotland lost to Afghanistan, after reducing them to 97 for 7 [when chasing 211], because we seemed to have things under control, and then the whole situation changed.
"In our case, I still don't really know whether we subconsciously took our feet off the gas, as if we thought the hard work had been done. But, in basic terms, I don't think that much has changed. The bottom line is that, whether then or now, we can't afford to be at only 60% or 70% and win international games. We need to be at our best for the whole match."
Salmond believes that Preston Mommsen's men are perfectly capable of rallying from their recent travails when they square up to the Bangladeshis tomorrow. But life has grown tougher since 2000 when the latter were promoted to ICC Full Members - a decision which still appears motivated more by political than sporting considerations.
Nor has the governing body's failure to integrate the Associates into a practical ODI structure done anything to improve matters. On the contrary, with the ICC talking about reducing the number of participants from 14 to ten countries in 2019, the elite could become ever more dominant.
Yet, as somebody who has become one of his nation's leading football referees in the last decade, Salmond is convinced the ICC can be persuaded or pressured to change their controversial policy. "I think we are already seeing so much criticism of the plan that you can sense a change in the air," said Salmond. "I haven't heard a single good argument for cutting the numbers in the World Cup, because the Associates have all enjoyed good moments so far. Ireland have beaten the West Indies, we've troubled New Zealand and Afghanistan had Sri Lanka in a fair bit of bother. At the moment, we don't get enough of these fixtures to have learned how to carve out victories when things get close at the end, but it makes sense to expand and that is happening in other sports.
"I remember back at the start of 2000, there were efforts to spread cricket's appeal in the United States and I think we have to keep heading in that direction. The ICC might publicly disagree, but I reckon they are starting to realise, behind closed doors, that they can't go ahead with what they've proposed."
As one might anticipate, Salmond is savouring the prospect of Mommsen's ensemble finally hitting their straps, but he is pragmatic about the improvement made by Bangladesh since they joined the pursuit's Top Ten. "They will start as favourites and that is nearly always the case when a Full Member meets an Associate side, but if Scotland play to their full potential, they have reasons to be confident," said Salmond. "What you have to understand is that Bangladesh will quietly fancy their chances of beating England, and they can reach the quarter-finals if they win their next two games. So there is every incentive for them. It could be another cracking contest."
And one which will hopefully have a different outcome from what transpired 16 years ago.
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