Australia to visit Scotland after 11 years in first men’s T20I bilateral series

Scotland and Australia will play their first men’s T20I series this September in Edinburgh. It will be Australia’s first visit to Scotland in 11 years, and it will come before they play five ODIs against England. The matches will be played at The Grange on September 4, 6 and 7, before the first ODI against England at Trent Bridge on September 19.

The announcement came as the two teams prepare to meet in Group B of the T20 World Cup in St Lucia, which will decide whether England or Scotland will join Australia in the Super Eight. England and Scotland topped the table with three and five points respectively, followed by Australia, who lead the group with six points. If Scotland beat Australia, they will advance, but they can still win if they lose but still have a higher run-rate than England.

Australia was scheduled to play three ODIs and a T20I against Ireland in August and September, but Ireland pulled out of hosting the matches due to financial problems. Cricket Australia then approached Cricket Scotland earlier this year, looking for alternatives to the Ireland tour.

“Cricket Australia approached us and said we’d like to work with you and we said we’d absolutely love to work with you,” Cricket Scotland CEO Trudy Lindblade told ESPNcricinfo. “We just needed to find a way to make that happen. So, for us, it wasn’t a mistake for Australia to come to Scotland before they played England and it was to find a way to make that happen. [CA chief executive] Nick Hockley and his team at Cricket Australia, we managed to find a way.”

“We need to play more quality cricket. The senior Associate members will say the same to us and this will show, not just our performance on the pitch, but the people of Scotland will be able to see the best cricket.”

Cricket Scotland CEO Trudy Lindblade

“What a way to end the year for Australia to come to Scotland, play three T20 matches in Grange, while we have gone through such difficult times,” said Lindblade. “It’s going to be a celebration of cricket in Scotland and we hope everyone will get behind us and if the tickets are sold, we’ll fill The Grange for three days and we can show everyone that cricket in Scotland is on the way and really moving forward and what a game everyone should enjoy.”

Lindblade hoped that the tour would lead to other tours of the Full Member States.

“We need to play more quality cricket. Senior Associate members will say the same to us and this will show, not just our performance on the pitch, but the people of Scotland will be able to see the best cricket. ,” he said. “We want to go back to discussions with board members about coming to Scotland. It’s not only a great place to play cricket, but it’s also a great place to visit. So with them here we can make sure it’s a fun time between games. It’s a complete package when you come to Scotland.”