Cricket World Cup: Caley's All Rounders

With two employees playing for Scotland in the Cricket World Cup, Caledonian Brewery's seasonal beer for March is All Rounder and features Ryan Watson, regional development manager, and Gavin Hamilton, business development manager, on the pump-clip.

Here, Gavin gives an insight into how the Scottish team are preparing to take on the giants of the game.

We are now four weeks into our pre-World Cup tour of Dubai and Kenya with two wins, two losses and a thrilling draw in the Tri-series Tournament, a warm up for the World Cup ​

Cricket League, which is being played in Nairobi.​

Having got off to the worst possible start, a 190-run loss to Kenya, we bounced back to beat Canada the next day, chasing down 296 with Caley's very own Ryan Watson weighing in with 136 not out. That was followed by a six run defeat by Kenya that didn't tell the whole story.​

It has been a testing few weeks, playing in hot and humid conditions and dealing with troubles off the field. Both the Canadian and the Scottish squad have been hit by the 'Mombassa bug' that has kept six or seven players bed and toilet-ridden for the best part of the week, making team selection near impossible. I had to keep wicket, which says it all! ​

Luckily enough, Ryan and I are yet to succumb - amazing what Deuchars does for the immune system!​

The idea of these games is, of course, to give every country the best possible chance to prepare for the World Cup.​

The most commonly asked question from most cricket fans is how are Scotland going to do? And the answer is quite simply we have no idea. But the spirit and work ethic we have is second to none.​

In every game since the poor tour to Bangladesh we have improved and genuinely feel we will not only compete but beat Holland comfortably and push South Africa and Australia very hard come the middle of March.​