Craig Wallace says being part of Scotland’s World Cup squad would be the pinnacle of his career as the national side prepare to return to action.
It is the first of two One-Day Internationals against the Dutch this week as the Scots begin preparations for the T20 World Cup in India in October.
Although he made his Scotland debut 10 years ago, wicketkeeper Wallace has yet to feature in a World Cup squad, missing out on selection for the 50-over event in 2016 and the T20 equivalent a year later.
The 30-year-old is desperate not to miss out again and said: “It would be a massive thing for me to go to a World Cup.
“I’ve been part of three or four qualifying tournaments, but I’ve never been to a World Cup.
“I’ve given up a lot of other things that I’ve been doing in the last couple of years to just focus on cricket.
“If I was looking back at my career, I’d be quite happy, but getting to the World Cup would be the icing on the cake, but there’s a long way to go to get there.”
Competition with Cross
Wallace’s chief rival for the position behind the stumps in the Scotland side is Aberdonian Matthew Cross.
Both are in Shane Burger’s squad for this week’s internationals and both could yet be selected for the World Cup.
Wallace relishes the competition and added: “Crossy have been there for the last few years and we push each other now probably more than we ever have, which is brilliant.
“There will be younger ones who will overtake us at some point.
“We can’t stop that happening, but we need to make sure we’re on our game to be the best we can be for as long as possible.”
Wallace pleased to be back
After so long without a fixture because of the pandemic, Wallace is relishing Scotland’s return to action.
The Dundonian reckons these games against the Netherlands are the start of an exciting period, culminating in the T20 World Cup.
He said: “We can’t wait for the games, it’s been almost 18 months since we played competitive cricket so we can’t wait.
“I think the most exciting thing is that we’ve had nothing for so long and now there is a lot of cricket on the horizon.
“We should have more cricket in June, July and September before the World Cup.
“It could be an amazing summer to be part of and this is just the start of it.”
