Carter reveals Scotland ambitions

By Paul Bolton, County News Correspondent

Warwickshire all-rounder Neil Carter has set his sights on playing international cricket for Scotland next year. The 37-year-old left-arm seamer was born and raised in South Africa of British parents and but became England-qualified during his 12 years with Warwickshire.
 
Carter has now discovered that he is also eligible to play for Scotland following a relaxation of the International Cricket Council’s eligibility criteria, as his mother was born in Scotland.
 
The ICC’s eligibilty criteria is based on nationality as defined by birthplace or passport but Scotland does not issue its own passport and the British passport is not accepted as it covers numerous ICC member countries.
 
“I am now qualified to play for Scotland because my mum was born there and because the eligibility regulations have changed recently,” Carter said.
 
“I have always thought that I should be able to play for Scotland because my mother is Scottish. She was born there, so what’s the problem? They don’t have their own passport so it’s different to other countries.
 
“I have spoken to someone about doing that. They have a one-day international against Australia next year, there are World Twenty20 qualifiers in Dubai in October next year which I would like to play in and then the World Cup qualifiers the following year.”
 
Despite helping Warwickshire to reach the final of the Clydesdale Bank 40 competition by taking four wickets in their final group match against Yorkshire and four more in last weekend’s semi-final at Old Trafford, Carter is expected to retire from regular county cricket at the end of the season.
 
But he has not ruled out a return to county cricket as a specialist Twenty20 player and is also considering playing in the Bangladesh Premier League whose franchises are encouraged to give opportunities to players from ICC Associate nations.
 
“I am going to keep my options open for short bursts like the Bangladesh Premier League where they have to have so many Associate players,” Carter said. “There’s also a possibility of playing Twenty20 in England and that’s something that I will look at.”


Date: 05/09/2012 23:56:56 by Paul Bolton
In: Warwickshire | Today |