MIKE DENNESS, the only Scottish-born player ever to captain England at cricket, today singled out Gavin Hamilton, the last Caledonian to wear the three lions, as a key figure for Monday's Auld Enemy clash at Raeburn Place, Edinburgh.
Bellshill-born Denness, who led England 19 times in 28 Tests between a debut in 1969 and an international swansong six years later, believes the Scots can go into the historic inaugural fixture with plenty reason for optimism.
"When I first repre
sented Scotland (he made a total of 19 appearances) a match against England would have been a long way off," said the 67-year-old. "However, through foresight shown in Scottish cricket coming out from under the wing of the TCCB matters have progressed well."
Denness goes on to list reasons to be cheerful ahead of putting out the welcome mat for England, saying: "What it takes for Scotland to improve further is to have two or three players around whom they can really build a side for top level.
"England haven't climbed the pecking order in one-day cricket (sixth) as much as they have in Tests (fifth) since goals were set in 2000 while the Scots have, in Gavin Hamilton, someone with a lot to offer.
"Also, they won't have to contend with Paul Collingwood (recent England ODI captain) on Monday because he is suspended." Before re-qualifying for Scotland, Hamilton went on an England tour of South Africa where his form in the one Test he played failed to equal that which he had been producing for Yorkshire.
Denness insists events were not all of Hamilton's making while stressing that, overall, the Broxburn-born ace will still have benefited from the experience.
"Gavin was probably not handled very well when he went to South Africa with England and that whole period possibly set him back because he'd gone on the back of such a great summer," Denness continued.
"But that still amounts to tremendous experience shared by comparatively few.
"For example even those who don't say very much when first in a Test dressing room absorb a lot which can be later passed on.
"He'll have more insight than anybody else in the Scotland team about how England will be approaching Monday's game. As for England, maybe nobody will (yet] be able to work out exactly what (England captain] Kevin Pietersen is planning. It is the case they have had their ups and downs in one-day cricket and haven't developed into one of the forces yet."
If that is as close as Denness goes to predicting any upset on Monday, what is clear is the attachment he still feels to his homeland despite being based in Essex. "I keep in touch with Scottish cricketing developments partly through a role as a pitch inspector but mainly with the assistance of (fellow Scot and England internationalist] Dougie Brown at Warwickshire who always seems to have his finger on the pulse."
Denness revealed, too, that he might easily have preceded Brown, now a county elite coaching director, in the Edgbaston club.
The man whose highest Test score of 188 came in an innings win over Australia in Melbourne said: "I was playing for Scotland at Warwickshire when the opposition captain, Mike Smith, entered our dressing room and asked if I'd like to play trials for them.
"It then came to light that one of my Scotland colleagues, Jimmy Allan, had already written to the Kent secretary, Les Ames, on my behalf and I ended up signing for them."
Always modest and self-effacing, Denness says: "I hope I made my mark as a bit of a pioneer for Scottish cricketers but it was all about being in the right place at the right time.
"Sometimes I got my leg pulled about being a Scot captaining England but it was always tongue-in-cheek with people sometimes asking me to repeat remarks because of my accent.
"I'd always reply that they needed to know how hard it was pulling together an England team with dialects ranging from north to south, east to west."
Now it remains to be seen if Scotland are in the right place at the right time on Monday – and whether they can take their chances as astutely as Mike Denness, whose Test average was a healthy 39, clearly did.
