Leg-spinner says qualifiers Scotland are keen to prove themselves on big stage
Valkerie Baynes20-Sep-2024Abtaha Maqsood was struggling to stay calm. Scotland were on the verge of qualifying for a maiden T20 Women’s World Cup and, for a little while, she couldn’t watch. What followed was the high point in what she describes as “one of the best months of my life”.Scotland’s eight-wicket defeat of Ireland in the semi-final of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier in Abu Dhabi in May sealed their place in history. They were comprehensively beaten by fellow qualifiers Sri Lanka in the final but had secured a place on the big stage for the first time.A 49-run opening stand between Saskia Horley and Megan McColl, who went on to score a 47-ball fifty, set the foundation for Scotland’s pursuit of 111 after skipper Kathryn Bryce’s 4 for 8 had restricted Ireland to 110 for 9. Bryce’s unbeaten 35 saw Scotland over the line.Related
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“I tried my best to stay as level as possible,” Maqsood told the ESPNcricinfo Powerplay podcast, as she recalled watching the run-chase against Ireland. “There was a point when we had quite a good partnership to start off with Megan and Saskia that I thought, ‘yeah, I think we might qualify here, I think this is it.'”I had to actually leave from the tent a little for a little bit just because I wasn’t very level at that moment. But when we finally found out it was just an amazing experience. I don’t think I can ever put that into words.”It was probably one of the best months of my life to be honest, and to run on and celebrate with the whole team with the Scottish flags and stuff, it was just amazing. It’s just so great to finally be here after 10 years of a lot of struggle and a lot of hardship.”Legspinner Maqsood finished the qualifying tournament among the top five wicket-takers, level on nine with Bryce and Ireland’s Arlene Kelly and behind only countrywoman Rachel Slater with 11 and Nasimana Navaika of Vanuatu on 10. Her best performance was 3 for 10 in Scotland’s opening match against Uganda, where Slater took a five-for.Getting to the World Cup is one thing, now Scotland are keen to show what they can do on the big stage.”Just getting to a World Cup is a huge statement, isn’t it? Nobody really expected it,” Maqsood said. “The experience is so important for a lot of us, especially because not all of us are professional cricketers, so it’s just a totally different thing for all of us.”But I guess we’re not just here to experience it. We’re here to compete. We’re here to show the world what our skills are and how good we really are. That’s really important for me, to just show the world that Scotland are here to compete. Obviously I’m very happy to be here, but we do really want to show the world what we can do.”Scotland are already in Dubai ahead of the World Cup which starts on October 3, acclimatising to the excessive heat with temperatures nudging 40 degrees Celsius. But conditions won’t be completely unfamiliar, with Scotland having played in the UAE both during qualifying and in the lead-up to that tournament. They played an ODI tri-series in Dubai immediately before the T20 World Cup qualifiers, with Maqsood taking career-best figures of 4 for 30 in the 50-over format against USA.Abtaha Maqsood celebrates a wicket with Scotland team-mates•ICC via Getty ImagesAs an Associate Member, Scotland has long had to contend with a lack of funding and fixtures, which is at the root of the hardships that Maqsood mentions when highlighting her team’s achievement in simply reaching the World Cup.”Fixtures is the main thing,” Maqsood said. “We’ve always struggled to be prepped for World Cup qualifiers because we just get thrown into it without much prep.”This time around we had quite a bit of prep. We were in the UAE for about two weeks beforehand and managed to get a lot of prep time in there and a lot of fixtures in, so we felt really good and momentum was in our favour. We were winning and we felt really good going into the tournament.”There’s been a lot of hardships in terms of trying to get fixtures and working around lack of funding and stuff. But yeah, just really glad to be here finally.”Maqsood believes the bigger, richer teams can play a part in helping smaller ones develop through the experience of playing against them.
Scheduling is an increasing problem though, as is the cost of staging series.England navigated the issue of a packed schedule by sending a second-string group to Ireland, a fellow Full Member nation, for their T20I and ODI series earlier this month, but they had the depth and geographical proximity to do so.”I’ve never played against some of the big teams,” Maqsood said. “I’ve never played Australia, I’ve never played England, New Zealand. It would be amazing to be able to get fixtures and series against them.”If you’re not Full Members, then you don’t really get that priority. It’s a little bit harder when you’re Associate Members. I think some of these bigger teams definitely have a role to play in trying to grow the sport as much as possible because we definitely need them to help us out a little bit there.”While not all of Scotland’s team are fully professional, Maqsood is at the other end of the spectrum, having put a degree in dentistry on pause to pursue cricket full-time in England. She helped Sunrisers reach a maiden Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy final and has played for Birmingham Phoenix in the Women’s Hundred.”The past few years have been the best years of my life, to be honest,” Maqsood said. “Being a professional cricketer, I never thought I would be able to say that I do this as a job. It was always kind of like a glorified hobby for me.”For me, being a dentist was really important, but when these opportunities came about, my priorities obviously changed a little bit. I’m just so grateful for the opportunity and so grateful that I’ve got this chance to really live my dream, which I don’t think many people can say.”
