THE journey for Scotland and for Shane Burger ends appropriately on top of the world. Burger’s four-year tenure as head coach of the Saltires will come to its conclusion in the shadow of Mount Everest this week, four World Cricket League [WCL] 2 games against Nepal and Namibia his final involvement with the national set-up before a new challenge awaits at Somerset.
The South African leaves with Scotland guaranteed of a spot in this summer’s 50-over World Cup qualifier and looking for the two victories that will ensure they conclude a meandering, oft-delayed WCL2 campaign in first place in the table. The long-term goal remains to gain a place among the full-member elite but for the time being, the Scots will need to settle for being the best of the associates and the rewards, of sorts, that such an accolade brings.
“We’ve gone on a really nice journey in terms of World Cricket League 2,” said Burger. “We wanted to win it. That was always our goal from day one but you don’t want to just win it. You want to make a statement.
“In many ways, we’ve done that but in other ways, we haven’t. We’ve lost games we should have won. We could have had it all sewn up by now, done and dusted. But nothing in sport is ever handed to you easily.
“It’s been another big learning curve for me. When I think of the places we’ve travelled to [in this campaign] it’s been challenging but also very rewarding.
“Nepal’s another adventure for us to learn more about this part of the world and to deal with conditions and a completely different climate. But that’s going to be awesome.
“To finish first is a real feather in our cap, especially for the support staff who have been involved. The amount of work they’ve done to acclimatise us to all these different conditions has been nothing short of exceptional.
“That’s allowed the players to get to a place where they can just worry about their performances on the park. It’s been a real team effort.”
Burger has presided over evolution rather than revolution, with the core of his squad not changing hugely from one series to the next. But the likes of Brandon McMullen and Tom Mackintosh have made the breakthrough into the first-team picture in recent months and there could be a chance on this tour for other youngsters Jack Jarvis and Liam Naylor to similarly impress.
“The biggest thing for me [over the past four years] has been the performances of the players at the highest level but, perhaps more importantly for Scottish cricket moving forward, it’s been seeing the next generation of talent that is coming through,” added Burger.
“We’ve been trying to blood them in the last few series and give them opportunities where we could. And it’s been great to see them put in the performances that we always knew they were capable of.
“There are a couple more that we’ve added to the squad for this Nepal trip. We know we’ve got a job to do and we want to win four games out of four. That’s always the goal.
“But we also know that one or two victories will guarantee us top spot. From there that might present one or two opportunities to play some of the younger names.
“We took Tom Mackintosh on our last trip to Namibia. Unfortunately, he never got on the park when we would have liked to have given him a game. We’ve selected Jake Jarvis for the squad and that’s down to the work he’s put in.
“His work ethic is phenomenal, he’s a coach’s dream, a real sponge. He takes on information really well and I’ve no doubt he’s going to be a fantastic player moving forward, as will Liam Naylor and Brandon McMullen - and we saw what he did on the last trip.
“So in terms of younger players, it’s in a good place and we’re hoping to provide opportunity. But the other thing as we know is that you don’t just hand out caps. Players have to earn the right to play in our starting XI.
“And those who are in possession of a role are always reluctant to relinquish it. Healthy competition within a squad is always good.”
