Mommsen, Berrington, Coetzer raise the bar after magical 1000

Scotland captain Preston Mommsen called the achievement of three Scotland players – himself, Kyle Coetzer and Richie Berrington – crossing 1000 career ODI runs in their 98-run win over UAE “pretty special”. He also said the trio should now aim to become the first Scotland players to cross the 2000-run mark.

“I was quite surprised to hear that,” Mommsen told ESPNcricinfo after being informed of the feat. “I think all three of us were. It was a nice little landmark and quite a nice thing that we could do it in the same game as well, so very happy.”

Prior to Sunday, the only other Scotland players to achieve the mark were Neil McCallum and Scotland’s all-time leader Gavin Hamilton, who sits at 1231 runs from 38 ODIs between1999 and 2010. Mommsen said being in such esteemed company made the accomplishment all the more meaningful.

“It is pretty special,” Mommsen said. “I think being one of the first five Scottish players ever to score 1000 runs in ODIs, that’s something I’m very proud of. I’m sure the others are as well. There’s no reason why we can’t really push on and try and double that up and be the first guys to get to 2000.”

Crossing 1000 ODI career runs may not sound like much in an era where players from Full Member nations regularly notch up the same number in a calendar year. However, it’s important to put those milestones into context. Berrington, who took the longest of the three Scotland players to get to the mark, has played in 49 out of Scotland’s 63 possible ODIs since making his debut in July 2008 against Ireland. Most other Full Member nations would have that many ODIs scheduled in two years rather than eight in Scotland’s bare-bones fixture list.

Even when Scotland are able to secure precious ODI fixtures, the weather can wreak havoc on their plans, thus impacting players’ career figures. Scotland have played 30 home ODIs since their inaugural match on home soil against Bangladesh in the 1999 World Cup though their first bilateral home contest was not until 2006 against Pakistan. Since 2006, Scotland have had six home ODIs washed out, and another three ending in no results. Overall, nine out of their 36 scheduled home ODI fixtures in history – 25 percent – have either been abandoned or unable to be completed.

To put those numbers into perspective, Australia have had a total of 420 home ODIs since the first one, against England in January 1971, with 13 ending in no results and a further four abandoned. That’s just four percent of their home fixtures. The most weather-affected Full Member, Sri …

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