From donning the whites of Aberdeenshire CC to representing Scotland on the world stage, Matthew Cross has been able to rely on his parents’ backing.
Like any proud parents, Tom and Linda Cross have supported his ambitions from the start, as he learned his trade at Mannofield and first earned call-ups to Scotland youth squads.
The fact they have flown out to the Middle East to watch Scotland in the T20 World Cup over the last 10 days has been memorable for wicket-keeper Cross, given the roles they have played in getting him to this point.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “They were here from the first game in Oman and they’ve managed to extend their holiday a little bit. I’m really pleased they got to see us get to this stage.
“They’ve helped massively (in my career). You look back to when I was young and the amount of driving, especially living in Aberdeen and travelling to Edinburgh all the time.
Big thank you to @TheOmanCricket and @shangrilamuscat for hosting us for this past month 👏 been an awesome leg of the trip and look forward to being back soon 🙌 pic.twitter.com/O92CdfRRJW
— Matthew Cross (@crossy16) October 22, 2021
“I can’t thank them enough for the sacrifices they’ve made. I’m really pleased and proud to represent Scotland on the national stage now and they’re able to watch it.
“I think they still enjoyed it as much as we’re now in the Super 12 stage. These things are disappointing but can happen to any team, as we’ve seen in the tournament already.
“We’ve quickly put it behind us, learned what we need to and we’re moving on to Namibia.”
The introduction to Super 12 cricket for the Cross family – in the stands and in the middle – was not what they would have been hoping for.
Monday’s defeat to Afghanistan was a sore one to take, given how well Scotland had performed in advancing to the Super 12.
Afghanistan have been one of the fastest-rising nations in world cricket since achieving full-member status in 2017, setting an example Scotland can aspire towards.
With Namibia coming up today in Abu Dhabi, they have chance to right a few wrongs and tick off goals they wanted to achieve once they reached this stage.
“We had a very brief chat after it,” added Cross. “It was obviously very disappointing but at the same time, T20 comes thick and fast and their wasn’t too much dwelling and chat on the game specifically. It was that we’ve got to back ourselves on what we’ve done so far.
“We’re playing a team in Namibia who we know a bit more about and we expect to bring a better performance. With T20 performances there’s always potential for that – Afghanistan played a great game of cricket, probably the best I’ve played in.
“It’s up to us to show the world-class ability we’ve got. I don’t think it dents our confidence in the slightest – these performances can happen and at the same time, we’ve got to move on. We’ve got four big games to hopefully put another full-member win on the board and a win against Namibia.”
Namibia saw off the Dutch and Ireland to qualify from Group A alongside Sri Lanka and have recent experience of facing Shane Burger’s side.
The two sides played a pair of T20 matches in the build-up to this tournament, splitting them with a win apiece. Cross notched a half-century in a 19-run Scotland win on October 14.
“They’re a very good team and I said before the competition started, I expected them to go through from that group so I’m pleased that they did,” he added. “They’ve got everything covered; they’ve got experience, a really good fielding unit and very tidy bowling.
“We’ve played against them three or four times in the last three years so there’s no surprises. At the same time, we expect to go out there and win.”
