SCOTS STAY COOL AHEAD OF ICC U19 WOMEN'S WORLD CUP

Scotland's players are battling more than just high class opposition as they prepare for the start of their ICC U19 Women's World Cup campaign in Malaysia.

 

Whilst 2025 began with freezing temperatures in the UK, the young Scots have faced the challenge of acclimatisation to scorching conditions and high humidity in Kuala Lumpur, where they'll begin their campaign against Australia on Saturday morning (0230 UK).

 

A week's training camp in Dubai has helped this process, and Head Coach Kari Carswell and her squad are resorting to every means possible to keep their cool ahead of the heat and pressure of a World Cup campaign.

 

“The week in Dubai was a good opportunity for us to get back out onto grass, after four months training indoors," said Kari. "At the back end of the week we were able to play some practice matches and put into place some of the tactical elements that we want to work on.

 

“It’s obviously been challenging for the squad going from training inside in Scotland to being outdoors, but by the end of the week we felt we were heading in the right direction. We are definitely adapting better to the heat, which has been the biggest challenge for the squad.

 

“Here in Malaysia, the heat combined with the humidity is really tough, and it’s about getting the players accustomed to how to deal with it. There’s loads of different ways we can do this, such as using ice vests during training and ice baths and ice towels afterwards or simply having the air-conditioning on full blast on the bus. The players also drink electrolyte slushies to help them hydrate; they sound disgusting but actually aren’t really that bad!

 

“While our schedule is really busy, we only have one practice match each day followed by rest and recovery as opposed to having two last week Dubai, so that should play into our favour as we move forward. There’s a couple of little niggles that we’re working through, but it’s nothing major so far and we’re hoping all the girls will be fit for the start of the main event."

 

There has been one enforced change to the squad ahead of the tournament, with Ruth McKay replacing Jenna Stanton. On Monday, the Scots faced the might of India in a warm-up fixture, and whilst the result didn’t go their way, the experience of playing the reigning U19 world champions provided an excellent indicator of the standards they need to reach in this competition.

 

 

“India played well and have got a lot of outstanding cricketers, but overall, we’re reasonably happy with how we performed. Obviously, there’s quite a few things that we could have tightened up on, but generally the players did what we asked of them, and we feel we’re heading in the right direction and in a good headspace ahead of the Australia match on Saturday.

 

“We’ve got another warmup game against Nigeria on Wednesday afternoon, so hopefully we can brush up on the things to improve on in that match. We’ve seen glimpses of each phase of our game so far across the warmups, but we haven’t put a full match together yet, so hopefully it’ll all come together against Nigeria and set us up well for the Aussies.”