Brian Lara Cricket Academy: Glenn Pocknall is all set to join Scotland’s coaching staff ahead of their Men’s T20 World Cup campaign in the West Indies and USA from June 1. Pocknall had previously spent time with Scotland coaching staff during the ICC Men’s World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe last year.
Pocknall is currently head coach of the Central Stags side in the New Zealand domestic circuit and will link up with Scotland team for the Men’s T20 World Cup in a fixed term role as fielding skills consultant.
“The experience of our wider coaching and medical staff will be hugely valuable to us in the coming weeks, during what is an extremely exciting period for us. The conditions in the Caribbean are likely to be particularly challenging, but we feel this group of players and staff are ready to step up and do themselves proud on the world stage.”
“I’m extremely pleased to have secured someone of Glenn’s experience to work with us on a short-term basis. He has recent knowledge of many of the squad and brings a huge amount of quality and expertise to the group during the next few weeks. We also greatly appreciate the collaboration with Central Districts in allowing Glenn to join us for this short period,” said Steve Snell, Cricket Scotland Head of Performance, in a statement.
Pocknall joins up with the Scotland squad ahead of the T20I tri-series, which features hosts’ Netherlands and Ireland, happening from May 18 to 24 at Voorburg. He joins the Scotland coaching staff comprising Stevie Gilmour and Moneeb Iqbal (Assistant Coaches), Dan Sutton (Strength & Conditioning), Dave Kershaw (Physio), Rajeev McCrea-Routray and Kenny Crichton (Team Manager).
Gilmour will lead the coaching staff on the ground during the four fixtures in the Netherlands, with head coach Doug Watson remaining in Scotland due to unforeseen visa delays. Following the tri-series, the Scotland team will fly to Trinidad on May 26 to begin their Men’s T20 World Cup final preparations.
Scotland will take on Uganda on May 30 in their first warm-up game at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Port of Spain, before facing Afghanistan in the second practice match at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain the following day.
In the Men’s T20 World Cup, Scotland are in Group B and will play their opening match of the tournament in what will be their first-ever men’s T20I meeting against defending champions England on June 4 at Kensington Oval in Barbados.
They will then face Namibia on June 6 in Barbados and Oman on June 9 at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua, before playing their last group match against recently crowned ODI World Cup champions Australia on June 15 at the Darren Sammy Cricket Ground in St Lucia.
Scotland will be competing at their sixth ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, and their third tournament participation in succession. In 2021, they succeeded in qualifying for the Super 12’s stage in the UAE and Oman, while in 2022, they memorably defeated West Indies in the group stage at Hobart, though they failed to make it to the Super 12 stage.
