The former Scotland captain, George Salmond, has urged England and the West Indies to arrange matches with the Scots in the second half of the disrupted 2020 season.
The Caribbean tourists are due to arrive in England later this week to prepare for a Test series and ODIs, beginning at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton on July 8.
And, with Scotland having been deprived of any domestic action this summer due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Salmond, who led his compatriots at the 1999 World Cup, believes the cricket community needs to pull together to help the Associate nations.
He said: “It’s almost exactly two years since the Scots beat England in Edinburgh, which was a fantastic result, but the opportunities to kick on and use the momentum from that massive step forward just haven’t materialised.
”It is very frustrating. Here we have an outstanding Associate side, who beat the number 1 ranked team in the world in 2018, but they are being given no chance to show their skills and build on that success.
“Presumably, it would suit the Associates and Full Members to play against each other, given the long lay-off in the sport in recent months.
”So, with England playing West Indies, why don’t the authorities organise a couple of matches against Scotland and Ireland in the schedule?
”Scotland could play two T20s or 50-over games against one of them and Ireland could meet the other.
”With no spectators, this should be easier to arrange and administer and it would be a real shot in the arm to Scotland, who have missed out on any ODI action this summer.”
Kyle Coetzer’s side had been scheduled to face New Zealand twice this week and Australia later in the month, all in Edinburgh, but these have fallen by the wayside.
They had earlier qualified for the T20 World Cup in Australia in October and November, but that also looks likely to be cancelled at an ICC meeting this week.
