Scotland captain Kyle Coetzer is like many cricketers around the world right now, patiently waiting for the return of cricket.
Unable to play, let alone train, Coetzer’s plans for this year have been thrown out the window due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
For Scotland, 2020 was set to a big year, with the T20 World Cup in Australia in October the highlight.
While some of those matches are still scheduled to go ahead, there is serious doubt if they’ll go ahead.
Coetzer said it’s just a waiting game right now.
His local season was due to kick off last week. He would have missed the opener, with the Scotland team meant to be in America playing some international games.
“It’s been a bit odd, but kind of nice in some ways as I’ve been able to spend some time at home with the family and the kids,” Coetzer said.
“It would be nice to go outside and play a bit of cricket, but on the flip side the attention has turned to the family even more so, having a bit of fun with it.
“It’s about getting through and hopefully a lot of positives as well come from it, with so many people doing so much good for the world, good for families and good for countries.”
Coetzer said he had been really looking forward to the America tour having never been there before.
He said the playing group was keeping in touch with each other, while trying to get creative with their training techniques.
None of the group is working, meaning they are spending a lot of time at home.
“It’s just what you can find in and around your house,” he said. “You’re still able to get out running and any outside activity as long as you are on your own.
“I’ve seen guys using plant pots and all sorts of things and guys have been thinking outside the box, going out and doing it as they want to improve.
“I think the boredom levels are there too.”
For the 36-year-old the break comes after a strong season, where he was awarded the 2019 ICC Associate player of the year.
He said he was surprised but honoured to have taken out the award. It’s the second straight year a Scotland player has taken out the award, with Calum MacLeod winning it the year before.
“It’s a very proud moment,” Coetzer said.
“I’m lucky to have been able to achieve a few things in my career and that was one that was always avoiding me.
“I felt that I may have had some slightly better years that may have been potentially challenging for the honour.”
Coetzer had been hoping to continue that good form into the 2020 year, with the national team on track for a big year.
The T20 world cup in Australia in October is the big item on the calendar. Currently, the event is still scheduled to go ahead.
Coetzer said the world cups and the qualifying tournaments were the highlights for him.
He said they had to keep focusing on that the event was going ahead and preparing the best they can.
“It’s still pretty much an unknown.”
“We just have to try and be prepared as we can and once we know we can get on the field, we’ll be back out there training as a group.
“We’ll take it a day at a time and see what happens.”
Adding to the excitement for this year, was that Scotland has fixtures scheduled against Australia and New Zealand in late June. No decision has been made on those matches.
Coetzer said it was pretty special for them to get the opportunity to play both those sides.
The only time he has faced both sides was in the 2015 World Cup.
“They are two of the top teams in the world with some amazing players and who doesn’t want to play against them.
“It’ll be disappointing for us [if they don’t go ahead], hopefully we’ll try and find ways to revionate them or try and play them down the line [if that happens].
The opportunity to play those games, helps highlight the developments within Scotland Cricket in recent years.
While still outside the top bracket of sides, they know that they can have an impact against some of these top sides.
A win against England in 2018, showed the excitement and improvement within the group.
“It was probably the best day in Scottish cricket history,” Coetzer said of the win against England.
“England were ranked number one at the time and for a day we felt on top of the world and deservedly so.
“We want to play as many of the top 10 teams that we can.
“We want to make an impact in fixtures we find in front of ourselves, putting in good performances, and ultimately try to win some of those games.
“We know that those gaps are narrowing slowly.”
Coetzer, who came through the junior national team system, said that while the skill level on the field has picked up in Scotland, he said the mental side of things had changed too.
He said they now believe they are good enough and capable of something special.
“We saw in the Amazon series that the Australian team were trying to alter the perception of how people saw them.
“We were always a really proud team in Scotland, but I don’t think we ever thought we were quite good enough to compete.
“A lot of good people have played their part and the tide changed a little bit when Grant Bradburn, our previous coach came in.
“He made the guys believe that we are capable of something special and capable of competing above our means.
“Until you believe you generally belong you are fighting a losing battle I think.”
While he’s towards the back end of his career, Coetzer said he doesn’t see his involvement in cricket ending anytime soon.
“The way I see it, if I don’t add any stats on for a long period of time this year, it doesn’t count as a year, so I get to play an extra one,” he joked.
“I want to continue to play as long as I can. I’m pretty driven to develop cricket in the area and for Scotland and want to see Scotland move onto another level where possible and keep competing at the highest level it drives me enough.
“I don’t think I’ll be leaving cricket any time soon.”
