Scotland v Pakistan, Edinburgh, July 1

Koetzer puts county before country

Cricinfo staff

June 29, 2007

Kyle Koetzer: spoke of 'lots of pressure from both sides' © Getty Images

Kyle Coetzer has withdrawn from the Scotland squad for the ODI against Pakistan, opting to stay with Durham. With Dougie Brown already missing because of an Achilles injury, Scotland are struggling.

Durham are not playing on Sunday, the day of the match, but they do have Twenty20 Cup matches on Saturday and Tuesday. According to a report in The Scotsman he admitted to coming under "lots of pressure from both sides" before deciding to put county before country.

"My aim is to have up to 15 years as a first-class cricketer so this is the right decision for the moment," he said.

"It's not an easy situation to resolve," Brown told the paper." Kyle has made a career down south and that's unfortunate for Scotland, but until the game is fully professional up here this will always be something we have to contend with. I can sympathise with Kyle because all he wants to do is play cricket at the highest level.

"If he feels that he can't play for Scotland because he might lose his place at Durham, then it's a ridiculous situation to be in. Scotland are not a fully-fledged ICC nation as yet and there is still a reservation within the counties that 'it's only Scotland'."

Coetzer has been replaced by Qasim Sheikh.

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