Test Match Special - The team of the year with no fixtures

Episode Date: June 4, 2025

BBC Cricket reporter Henry Moeran hears how the Scotland Women’s cricket team went from being their nations team of the year and their historic first World Cup appearance, to not having a single fixture in their calendar.In December 2024, a month after playing in their first ever World Cup, Scotland’s women had just been named their nations sporting team of the year. Six months later, they have no International fixtures and have not played at home since 2022. Henry Moeran is joined by TMS commentator Daniel Norcross to assess what could be done to help Scotland and hears from the Director of Performance at Cricket Scotland, Steve Snell. Snell tells us how the lack of fixtures impacts the team and his message to the governing body. Plus Scotland players Abtaha Maqsood and Sarah Bryce share their concerns of what could happen to Scottish cricket if the situation is not resolved.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. To embrace the impossible requires a vehicle that pushes what's possible. Defender 110 boasts a towing capacity of 3,500 kilograms, a weighting depth of 900 millimeters, and a roof load up to 300 kilograms. Learn more at landrover.ca. This podcast is brought to you by Wise, the app for international people using money around the globe. With Wise, you can send, spend, and receive up to 40 currencies with only a few simple taps. Plus, Wise won't add hidden fees to your transfer. Whether you're buying

souvenirs with pesos in Puerto Vallata or sending euros to a loved one in Paris, you know you're getting a fair exchange rate with no extra markups. Be smart. Join the 15 million customers who choose Wise. Download the Wise app today or visit wise.com. T's and Cs and Cs apply. from BBC Radio 5 Live. Hello, I'm Henry Moran. Welcome to the Test Match Special podcast. In this episode, we're going to be exploring how a country went from the highs

of being named their nation's team of the year and a historic first World Cup appearance to not having a single fixture in their calendar. This is the story of Scotland women and their quest to get back to where they belong. You're listening to the TMS podcast. from BBC Radio 5 Live. Well, in December 2024, just a month after their first appearance at a cricket world cup,

Scotland's women had just been named as their nation's sporting team of the year. An amazing achievement for a young side filled with plenty of talent, enthusiasm and high-quality players. But less than six months on, they do not have a single fixture scheduled. Nothing in the diary. In fact, they've not even played again. game at home since 2022. This is a side that went to a World Cup, that competed at a World Cup, but admirably, albeit in testing conditions in the UAE, where they played every single match in the heat of the Charger Day, and eventually headed home fairly early on in the tournament,

it must be said, but certainly with their heads held high. So what's going on? Well, they just isn't the money for Scotland to host matches, despite the fact that sides want to come and play against them and despite the fact that Scotland's players are absolutely desperate themselves to get the opportunity to develop and grow the game. We'll be hearing from the Scotland camp shortly, but Daniel Norcross of Test Match Special, we were both there watching in the UAE. We saw Scotland and the passion they had for playing the game, and it is frankly extraordinary. We're in a position where a side has nothing in the diary. Well, it's farcical, isn't it? Because I don't think we should underplay just how split.

ended they were out in Sharjah. I mean, one of those stories of the first week of that tournament was Sarah Bryce, managing to keep wicket, bat all day, get really quite ill in doing it. It was 40-degree heat. Scotland was set the stiffest of tasks, and they didn't win games, but they came pretty close. They kept sides very much, you know, under the kosh, and they didn't look out of place in a world tournament. know how we can get into a situation like this and yes it always comes down to money who is going to pay for it who's going to host them who who how can they afford to host other teams so

what does the international cricket community do about this one the first the most obvious one and it's one that's been floated a few times actually in regard to the men's tournament as well is that should perhaps there be like a home internationals for the men you might want to add in the Netherlands as well and have an annual fixed it wouldn't have to be that England send their top team but with women's

sport women's cricket becoming professionalised so much in England at the moment there would be plenty of women who would create good stiff challenging opposition for a Scotland team that could be comprised out of England players that aren't necessarily going to be playing in the first team around that time of year

you could throw in Ireland into that mix as well because Ireland have got some fantastic players like Amy Hunter All A Prendergast these are people who are getting picked up and playing professional cricket

Amy Hunter's been picked up at Surrey for example All Apprendagast plays regularly in leagues and around the world in the Big Bash as well so is that a way to do this is there a way that we can ensure that this problem does not happen

because if you allow it to come to the caprice of different countries and to Scotland's cricket set up does not have anything like the same advantages as the men do. Ireland, for example, have test status. So with that comes a certain amount more funding. Scotland do not have that. England, of course, have test status.

With that comes an awful lot more clout. For cricket Scotland to be able to host these matches is pretty difficult. So that would be one thing that I think we could do, and we could do it immediately. We could have a three-team tournament involving Ireland, England and Scotland and make that an annual round-robin. To chuck some figures out there, in terms of what Scotland get from the ICC, cricket Scotland receives

approximately £1.3 million per year as part of the ICC's revenue share, and that's to fund all of their programmes, men's and women's. You compare that with the in excess of £30 million that the England and Wales cricket board get. Cricket Scotland say they've never made a profit from hosting a series. They did make a profit from the one-off game against England in 2018. That memorable game at the Grange that Scotland actually went on to win. The ECB

for their part, I got in touch with them. They say, we're happy to support the development of women's cricket in Scotland, already organised fixtures at a pathway level, including inviting Scotland women's under-19s to play in the school games last year and that England's women's under-19s will play a number

of fixtures against Scotland A this summer. They go on to say that the priority for England women has to be scheduling series against ICC full members which fulfil our obligations within the ICC's future tours programme and set the team up for success in global tournaments and marquee series like the women's ashes. So it is a wider problem than purely looking just at what neighbours can do. Oh we most certainly is but I think that England don't have to play their first team in this proposed tournament. They can play

look, Scotland of God, we've already named a few of those players. Both Bryson sisters who feature prominently, they play against England's best players in leagues around the world. If you were to put out an England team that would say a development team or an A team and given, as I say, how many new young cricketers

are coming through, I could give you an example, say Alexa Stonehouse, Rihanna MacDonald Gay. There could be players like that in there. Maya Bouchier, who's been cast off from the England team at the moment. So that the quality of the team that England put out would be strong. It doesn't have to be a full A team, full first team, if you like. It's a wider problem, though, with cricket generally, isn't it?

And it's always been the case ever since it first began, that essentially it's got a small group of teams that reluctantly expand. And this has been happening in men's cricket for years. It took a while for South Africa to join dead the West Indies, India. Buckistan, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, all of these have taken a long, long time to happen because people like Beasley to ring fence the way the game is played and who gets to play it at the top table. But the final point on this is if they're going to have expanded T20 tournaments, then the ICC need to give those teams that are going to qualify for those tournaments as big an

opportunity as possible to be as competitive as possible. And that's the key, isn't it? And you want a competitive game that allows teams, to when they take on sides at major world events have the opportunity to really to put on a show and compete in these fixtures. Right, let's hear from the Scotland camp then. I've been chatting to the bowler Aftah, Maxud. And firstly, Sarah Bryce to get thoughts on the current situation. Yeah, I think it's pretty frustrating. I think it's the easiest way to put it. I think we've had a really success. I think last year was probably our most successful year. obviously qualifying for our first ever World Cup playing in that

and then the recent kind of global qualifies that we've been at was a great tournament in itself but I think we're starting to show that we are a developing team and we're able to start competing with those teams a bit higher that we've not had the opportunity to play against before and teams are wanting to play us now which is really exciting but we're not able to and I think yeah it's just really frustrating because it's difficult to know how we keep pushing forward as a team

while we don't have those opportunities to develop, I guess. What are the conversations that take place between you guys about playing for Scotland and those frustrations that exist in not getting those chances? Yeah, just, I mean, similar to what Sarah was saying there, like just so many frustrations, a lot of disappointment whenever we talk about this sort of thing and just like

feel pretty helpless as well like there's not really much we can do about the situation if we don't get the financial support that I think we deserve at this point like Sarah said we had such a successful year last year and then also playing in Pakistan we showed that we really can compete against these teams beating West Indies

and then also putting in some really good performances against teams ranked higher than us. Like, I think we deserve that financial support to try and get us more fixtures. And it does seem a little bit like a turning point at the moment where we're playing so well. The vibe is great around the team. And if we don't get the support that we feel like we need,

we're just going to stay the same and everyone else is just going to keep getting better. So it does feel a little bit like a turning point. And like I said, just feel pretty helpless that it was very low. little we can do about the situation, but I guess this is a start is to start speaking up about it a little bit more. Feeling helpless, Abduha, I mean, what can be done? Because it feels as though cricket has more money than ever, yet for some reason there are teams that are desperately

trying to compete that don't get the opportunity to. Yeah, I mean, like I said, like this is a start, just speaking up about it. Obviously, there was quite a lot of noise around it on Twitter or X, whatever it's called, a few weeks ago, which is great, like, so many people are talking about it, which is really helpful. But I think the big thing is probably these bigger nations probably need to help us out a little bit more, specifically associate member nations.

So, like, people like England, even, like, West Indies Pakistan. I know Pakistan were really keen to come and play us, but we just couldn't because we just can't afford it. but like these bigger nations, these full member nations need to help out the associate members a little bit more and try their best to maybe host us whenever they can because it's clearly not really coming from the ICC

like that funding and that support's not coming from them directly and so I think that's maybe a start as these big nations need to help out a bit more. Now having seen you both at the T20 World Cup I know how passionate you are about playing for Scotland and the effort that goes into representing a sign and getting to a World Cup to not be able to play at home

because it's financially unviable, it must be heartbreaking, Sarah. Yeah, definitely. I think, you know, we've, when we had the global qualifiers there, it was years ago now, 2019 or something, just before COVID, it was amazing having that kind of home support.

Obviously, we weren't kind of as big successful and didn't have quite as much support back then but even still like people came and supported and it was just such a incredible feeling and having those people that have kind of whether they've been there the kind of past players that have like led the way or just general people that came and support having them there was really special so it is a real shame that we can represent them abroad but we can't really come back and almost say thank you to them by playing in front of them and seeing that firsthand.

So, yeah, it is a real shame that we don't get to play more cricket in Scotland because I absolutely love it and I think it's so important for getting those supporters down and giving back a bit. Without wishing to be overly pessimistic, what happens if this doesn't get resolved, Sarah?

That's a very good question. I don't know, it's so frustrating. and I think it's not just us as well. You know, you look at someone like Thailand that have had that massive rise and they got to their first World Cup back when it was in Australia and did so well in that tournament in Zimbabwe that unfortunately got cut short against COVID

and then they've kind of had the same sort of thing of then not getting any support and they're now kind of really struggling as well. So I think it's a global issue that somehow I think the resources is a need to be spread out better amongst a greater number of countries so that it can be a proper global game because, you know, we don't want it to just be in India, Australia and England

are the only top three teams competing and, you know, I think it's much more exciting when those World Cups are competitive. I mean, look at the T20 World Cup when West Indies kind of did so well South Africa getting to the final. I think that's what people want to see is, you know, real competition, you know, throughout the country. So I think it would just, it would be bad for cricket, I think, in general, if there isn't that support globally throughout to try and, yeah, make it an exciting

global sport. If it isn't resolved, is there the prospect that the women's game in Scotland could wither and could disappear and could fade away from this wonderful position? Yeah, it could do. Like Sarah said, about Thailand as well, like they had such an incredible rise. and now are struggling a little bit as well and we don't want that to happen to us. Like I said, I do feel like this is such a big turning point

where we're doing so well and we've been so successful the past year and if we don't get the support that we need then things are just going to stay the same and everyone's just going to keep getting better and we're just going to plateau really. So yeah, that could happen is that there's not enough

happening in Scottish women's cricket at the moment that people just won't be inspired to play more cricket so it could wither away and I think that's the exact thing that we don't want so yeah I do think it's a bit of a turning point here and it's really important that we make sure we keep going up rather than just plateauing now Sarah I know that the frustrations are shared

by those higher up at Cricket Scotland for whom there is literally nothing they can do. It is a much wider problem. Yeah, it's been a really challenging time, I think. And yeah, I don't really know what the answer is. I guess if there was an easy answer, it would hopefully have been fixed by now. But I think hopefully if we can start kind of getting more sponsorships on board

and people probably outside of cricket investing in us, it's quite clear that within cricket, the kind of funding and money isn't there. So I think we probably need someone to take a leap of faith in us and maybe just come on board and hopefully we can kind of use that and do something good and it'll be worth it for them. But I think, yeah, we're probably going to need to look outside the box,

at least in the short term, to try and get something, to try and progress things because, yeah, it's so tricky and, yes, it's difficult to see how it's going to get better. What would you say to the ICC? Abduhurth for whom they hold a lot of the purse strings and they clearly oversee a game that shouldn't be growing as a gullible sport. I guess I would just say like please take a chance on us and the younger teams or sorry the smaller teams

I think the game's just not going to be able to grow if we're just focused on the big three nations or the full member nations it needs to we need to bring the smaller nations into it as well and that way the game just gets more and more exciting and I think that's what people want to see

is exciting games of cricket between everyone not just the big nations so yeah just take a chance on those plays you'd agree Sarah yeah I think that's a great way to put it yeah

Steve Snell Sarah spoke about the fact that he worries that Scotland's players aren't being looked after from a mental health point of view because you can't afford not to have shared hotel rooms and last minute travel arrangements because it is quite a chaotic system in how a lot of things are arranged and the costs are huge. I mean, there is a sort of human element to all of this. Yeah, 100%. You know, we barely get any notice for when things are happening or, you know, roughly when we've got a qualifier in this quarter of the year, but you've no idea when it is until potentially a couple weeks before

and that is so challenging and it's we are lucky that being full-time professional cricketers we don't have to worry about it as much but we've still got other teams that we're playing for that we have to let know if we're available or not and those back home with jobs it's so challenging

getting time of work also Abby I can drumming too is with us on our most recent tour she's got a young daughter and you know in childcare for her while she's away she can't just at the drop of the hat go off on a plane and be away for a few weeks.

So it is so difficult when everything is so last minute as well for people to organise their lives and get everything sorted. And it's that hard thing of almost because we have less funding and opportunities is for those that are in the least fortunate positions, you know, those in Scotland who have other jobs, it's actually for them that it affects the most, the fact that we are the last people to get fixtures, you know, all the main tournament is to sort of first,

then eventually it drips down until you get your associate nation fixtures. So it just gets harder and harder, and that is, it's okay if it happens once every now and again, but when that's every tour, it's so challenging and different people's workplaces are like, you need to give us more notice, you need to give us more notice, and you can't do anything about that as a player. So, yeah, no, it is really challenging and something that I think

ideally it would be better, but we don't really, and cricket Scotland don't have any control, over it, which makes it so challenging. Abtav, say there is no progression in the next two, three years. What sort of a loss would that be to Scottish sport and to the prospect of growing the game? Yeah, it would be a massive loss, I think. I just, like I said, like we've been doing so well the past year and even just thinking about how good we can be for the next few years, like it's so exciting.

and we do talk about it in the team and we do talk, like the coaches talk about it and everyone is, like there is a lot of noise around how exciting the next few years can be for us and if we just don't get those opportunities, then like I said before, like Scottish cricket or women's cricket in Scotland will weather away

a little bit. So that is the player's perspective on the situation, but how do the Scottish management feel about it and what do they think should be done? I spoke to the Director of Performance Steve Snell, and he's been telling me how the lack of cricket fixtures is impacting the team. And the reality is, Henry, if we don't have hardly anything, if anything, organised the remainder of the year. And that's extremely disappointing, not just for everybody at Cricket Scotland, but also for the players

and obviously our members, fans and interested spectators. And that's largely due to the fact that just from a funding perspective, you know, cricket costs so much to run Our resources are extremely sparse at the moment and having not qualified for the World Cup in India in October actually having to prioritise resource across the organisation it means that we're running on almost fumes to try and have our women's programme exist really. We have got intentions, obviously, to run a training programmes

and to have a few camps across the summer but without any international fixtures which are mandated or any FTP, which is designated by the governing body, it's really difficult to operate on that basis. So, yeah, it's really disappointing. From a logistical point of view, the ICC are the head of the game. They fix up the future tour programs across the game, but not for associate women's sides.

So have we got to this point where there are no fixtures? And if you compare it to other sports, it seems almost unbelievable that this could be happening. Yeah, I think there's a couple of, you know, things that are driving this. I mean, if I, firstly, I've been on record already, was saying that I think the whole associate membership and four member, it's archaic, it was something that was conceptualized, you know, years and years, years ago.

And I would argue that given the worldwide priority of developing the game, I don't think it's fit for purpose, and particularly how the funding model is managed, You know, there's teams with extraordinary levels of resource and there's teams ranked slightly lower, if not above teams, with not even a tenth of the resource of those teams, yet expected to continually compete, resource the game, develop it and promote it in the countries, and then try and compete with said teams at major tournaments. I think it isn't a model which is going to encourage those teams or even allow them to flourish on the world stage. and what Cricket Scotland have been doing with the men's and women's teams I think with the level of resources

has been somewhat remarkable that Cricket Scotland have had the results that we've had. So I don't think it really adds up in terms of where the resource model is. I don't think almost the static nature of full membership and seemingly loose or impossible criteria

which was probably benchmarked 15, 20, 30 years ago to become four members. I don't see how that's encouraging challenger teams like Scotland, Netherlands, and indeed Thailand who are making remarkable strides in the women's game. I don't see how that's encouraging teams

or promoting them to compete at the top table of international cricket. So how do Scotland's women, who have had some phenomenal success, you look at not just the awards one, but also appearing in a World Cup and the opportunity to play on the world stage, compete on a world stage.

How have you managed to do that, given the lack of resource? I think we're blessed by the fact that actually we've got players that are extremely committed, that are actually working hard and trying to find solutions off their own back. I think we've got extremely dedicated and resourceful staff and coaches across cricket Scotland. And of course, we're in the fortunate position where we are able to access domestic cricket for our professional players, for our women's team in England. and for our men's team we have had some players

who've accessed domestic cricket in England but also the kind of franchise leagues which operate around the world we're kind of almost doing whatever we can to piggyback off the back of that I think also within the men's game the framework which exists in terms of World Cricket League 2

I think is a good one in terms of to further the game to promote the game to provide a level of meritocracy in competition which is designated its constant reasonably constant, I'll say, though we do have periods of, well, we don't have any cricket. So I do think there is a framework which then exists for the men's games somewhat. But we still have the same problems in the fact that because we don't have that designated

FTP, we're not seeing proactivity from so-called four members to come to Scotland to want to players or in effect to invite us to the countries to players either. We don't see that proactivity. We've seen it from Pakistan this year. Pakistan have been unbelievable in their patience and dedication to come across and play Scotland, albeit they've got some other cricket taking place in the northern hemisphere. And I think those types of approach is common sense.

So whenever a full member team is coming across to play Ireland or England, it makes financial but also developmental and, cricketing sense for there to be some cricket for there to be some cricket for Scotland or in Scotland at those points as well. So I don't think we're asking for a huge amount in terms of from our partners and governing bodies. But equally what we have got at the moment is a fairly stagnant process to that. And it's almost, you know, we kind of have to kind of go cap in hand. And it's almost like other teams are doing us a favour by playing against us. where in reality, we're either ranked slightly above or just below most of these teams.

So where does that funding come from? Where could it come from? Where should it come from? But to be really direct in terms of your question, I think the funding model needs to change. I think there's teams getting an awful lot, and they've got an awful lot from a long period of times, and there's teams that have got not very much for a long period of time.

And ultimately, I think it's right that the teams are generating the most money, and the nations that generate in the most money, of course they have to be incentivised to be at the focal and the front of the game as well and we see that with you know the IPL for example generating huge revenue and it's only right there's huge benefit as a result of doing that as such though in terms of to contradict that slightly for cricket Scotland the Netherlands Thailand top perform and associate teams to be given a couple of million pounds a year or dollars more on a sustainable basis would make make a ridiculous difference to our programs, not just in terms of how many fixtures we can play, the way we look after our players, we can take our women's players off one-day contracts a week, our players could not share hotel rooms, which they do for almost every tournament. So from a player welfare perspective, I personally think that our funding means that we don't look after our players as well as we

should from a mental health perspective. There's just so many things that, you know, that significant funding for us would make a difference, whereas actually in terms of the whole scheme with the global game, I don't think that's asking for that much. What would be your message to the ICC and ECB? Well, I think, you know, the ICC and ECB are doing a great job in lots of different ways. I think it's certainly for me not about criticizing them, but certainly I'd like to see kind of more proactivity in relation to teams that are evidencing over a period of time that they're actually improving. They're committed to developing.

cricket in general and of course the women and girls game. But also from the full membership perspective, rather than actually really having to evidence why teams should be four members, I think it should be plain and obvious, almost that invite from the ICC in terms of which teams should become at that table of cricket. So rather than us having to justify why we should be, it's almost why aren't we being invited to be so? Well, thanks to Director of Performance at Cricket Scotland, Steve Snell.

Sarah Bryce and Abduha, Maxud, and also Test Match Special commentator Daniel Norcross. That is it for this episode of the Test Match Special podcast. Don't forget to subscribe on BBC Sounds, so you do not miss an episode from us over the course of what is a busy summer, and you can hear every ball of every match on BBC Sounds and the BBC Sport website and app. On BBC Sounds, this.

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