George Scott, Scott Steel in Scotland's 40-member longlist for T20 World Cup
George Scott and Scott Steel, the Gloucestershire and Leicestershire allrounders, are in contention to play in this year's T20 World Cup after being named in Scotland's 40-member longlist for the event.
Steel had a superb debut season in the 2019 Vitality Blast, averaging 33.54 and striking at 136.66 while opening the batting for Durham alongside D'Arcy Short. After a quiet 2020, he joined Leicestershire, and has scored 304 runs with a strike rate of 108.96 in this summer's Blast. "Honoured to be in the 40-man squad for contention," he tweeted.
Scott, meanwhile, has struggled for opportunities in Gloucestershire's lower-middle order, playing only twice in the Blast this summer. He featured regularly in the side that reached Finals Day in 2020, and has shown potential with bat and ball in other formats.
Scott and Steel are among a number of county cricketers included in the longlist, with Josh Davey (Somerset), Brad Wheal (Hampshire), Michael Jones (Durham) and Ruaidhri Smith (Glamorgan) among the capped players involved.
Tom Sole, who was part of the squad for the T20 World Cup Qualifier in late 2019, is the high-profile omission after opting to "take a break from cricket", according to a Cricket Scotland statement, but his brother Chris has been included.
Bradley Currie, the older brother of Hampshire seamer Scott, and the South African-born Brandon McMullen are both named, though they are yet to qualify to play for Scotland.
The 40 players named will be involved in a "trial series" in August, with the final squad due to be named later that month.
Shane Burger, Scotland's head coach, said: "It's exciting to be able to announce 40 names in contention for selection. Every single individual on the list will have the opportunity to play in the trial series and has the chance to go to a World Cup.
"It's encouraging to see that the depth of Scottish cricket is really good at the moment and to have such a good blend of experience and youth in this line-up."
The announcement comes on the day that Scotland's group for the fixture phase of the World Cup was confirmed. They will play Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea and Oman, with the top two qualifying for the second phase.
Three members of the longlist - George Munsey, Calum Macleod and Safyaan Sharif - have been recruited by Kent to play in their final two Blast group games after a number of players were forced into self-isolation. They go straight into the squad for Friday night's game at Lord's.
T20 World Cup longlist: Kyle Coetzer, George Munsey, Richie Berrington, Calum Macleod, Craig Wallace, Michael Leask, Matthew Cross, Mark Watt, Oli Hairs, Ally Evans, Safyaan Sharif, Josh Davey, Hamza Tahir, Chris Greaves, Scott Cameron, Gavin Main, Adrian Neill, Ruaidhri Smith, Michael Jones, Dylan Budge, Scott Steel, George Scott, Bradley Currie*, Brad Wheal, Chris Sole, Tom Mackintosh, Josh Wood, Jamie Crawley, Finlay Macreath, Rory Johnston, Christopher McBride, Brandon McMullen*, Rory Hanley, Ollie Davidson, Ben Davidson, Mohammad Ghaffar, Liam Naylor, Alex Hinkley, Tom Simpson, Jack Hogarth
* denotes yet to qualify