Scotland captain Kyle Coetzer admits he is desperate to sample more of the big time after savouring four “special days” against two of cricket’s superpowers.
There was disappointment for the skipper as his side were unable to follow up their historic one-day international victory over England with another win as they took on Pakistan in two Twenty20 clashes in Edinburgh.
But even a crushing 84-run defeat in Wednesday’s showdown could not wipe the grin off Coetzer’s face as he looked back on a rare outing against ICC Full Member opposition.
The decision to reduce next year’s 50-over World Cup from 14 teams to 10 has already cost the Scots one chance to place themselves on the game’s biggest stage.
But Coetzer is determined to see his team take as many opportunities as they can to ensure they are not left out in the future.
He said: “It’s been a pretty special four days. I’d have said beforehand that if we came out of these three games having won one of them, we’d have taken that.
“But having won the first one we were hoping to go on and get a second.
“It wasn’t to be but we’ve played some excellent cricket over the four days. The atmosphere has been superb, people have filed through the gates and that is an absolute credit to Scottish cricket and everyone involved in setting this up.
“These kind of occasions are where we want to be and that’s what we’ll be pushing forward for.”
Scotland were unable to prevent a heavy defeat on Wednesday.
The Scots looked to have put themselves in with a chance to claiming another major scalp as Pakistan were limited to 166 for six.
But when opener George Munsey fell to a duck after just three balls, the Saltires reply crumbled and they were eventually bowled out for just 82 with five runs to spare.
They now head to Holland for a Tri-Series that also includes Ireland but Coetzer admitted he was frustrated there were no other clashes in his side’s diary.
“We have to use every occasion we have as we don’t get many of them,” he said. “We go now to Holland tomorrow. Holland two games, Ireland two games and that’s our schedule done for the summer.
“That’s disappointing in many ways, but we have been fast learners for quite some time now, considering the lack of games that associate teams play.
“Do we need more games? Yes. We’ve said it for a while and I’ve harped on about it enough to be honest. So have other teams. More cricket is key but that has to be balanced with the top teams not playing too much cricket.
“There is a balance there but hopefully one can be found.”
