Player power threatens future of Scottish cricket

When the thought that one or two of his players were unfamiliar with the concept of accountability, Peter Drinnen's reaction was immediate. "Yes, you have hit the nail on the head." This may explain why a season of thus far minimal achievement has been accompanied by regular dressing-room tittle-tattle.

Arno Jacobs, one of Scotland's two overseas signings at the start of their Friends Provident Trophy campaign, was publicly criticised for apparently "not wanting to mix with his team mates" when most of imagined that the South African had been hired to score runs, not share bon mots with the beer-nut set. Yet that has set the tone.

Before the World Cup, I was given a dressing down by John Blain and instructed to be "more positive in my coverage". When I replied that this worked both ways, his retort was that the press needed to understand the sacrifices which the players were making to play for their country. That might be fair enough, until one casts an eye over the dismal performances by most of the senior players at the World Cup and the subsequent revelations of carousing taking precedence to cricket in the Caribbean.

In which light, it was obvious that Drinnen had to implement changes and introduce some fresh blood to the squad, but it is exactly at that point that speculation commenced over his future. One doesn't have to be an apologist for Drinnen to feel that if he doesn't gain the public backing of his chief executive, Roddy Smith, that this will be an unwanted victory for player-power for the second time in two years. Once might be justified, but twice is starting to look like a pattern developing.

Unless it is nipped in the bid, Scottish cricket will suffer.