Scotland ring the changes

Scotland's selectors have left out some familiar faces in their squad for the opening three rounds of their Friends Provident campaign.

Under a new captain - Ryan Watson - two stalwarts - Gavin Hamilton and Paul Hoffmann - have been dropped, but both have received assurances that they still have a future. Into the side come Omer Hussain, Gregor Maiden and the team's two overseas players, Australian George Bailey and South African Arno Jacobs.

Hoffman's absence was put down to fitness. "Paul has been ill in recent weeks and he hasn't done as much pre-season work as he would have liked," Peter Drinnen, the coach, told The Scotsman. "We want to give him another three weeks to prove his fitness. I wouldn't say his selection is as clear-cut as it once was, but we know what he can do and I'm sure he will play a lot more cricket for Scotland. We don't close the door on anyone."

Drinnen was upbeat about the recall of Maiden. "Gregor is an exciting and very, very talented player who bats aggressively and is brilliant in the field," he said. "He will be looked at closely to play in the Twenty20 event, but he must prove himself to the selectors."

Scotland squad Ryan Watson (capt), George Bailey, John Blain, Majid Haq, Omer Hussain, Arno Jacobs, Neil McCallum, Gregor Maiden, Dewald Nel, Glenn Rogers, Colin Smith (wk), Fraser Watts, Craig Wright.