It is never difficult to distinguish between a batsman with a grievance and a ray of sunshine…

Scottish cricket is a tough school. Not so much because of the standard, but on account of the conditions cricketers must endure north of the border. The climate is not, to put it mildly, suited to the greatest game. And this summer has been especially bleak; my own club, Selkirk, haven’t played since mid-July, rain forcing our last four fixtures to be abandoned without a ball being bowled. And that’s in August. Early season play, in shivering April and biting May, is not for the faint-hearted. Playing cricket in Scotland one can never entirely escape the sensation, even under blue skies, that fate is lurking around the next corner, armed with rain…

In that sense, then, Caledonian cricketers must endure more difficult conditions than their comrades in other, more sun-favoured climes. Then too, there’s the fact that plenty of folk still consider cricket a foreign sport in Scotland. Worse than that, an English sport.