Cricket has a considerably lower profile in Scotland than it has in neighbouring England. Scotland is not one of the ten leading cricketing nations which play Test matches, but the Scottish national team is now allowed to play full One Day Internationals even outside the Cricket World Cup, in which Scotland competed in 2007. Scotland has a well established recreational cricket structure. In 2016 it was estimated that around 17,000 people play cricket in Scotland
Cricket in Scotland has a long history, which can be traced back to the 18th century.
However, it has been afflicted by Anglocentrism, with many notable Scottish players joining the English national team, instead of their own, and with the Scottish national team playing as an English county side.
The governing body for Scottish cricket is Cricket Scotland, which administers women's cricket and junior cricket as well as the men's game.
The then Scottish Cricket Union resigned from the UK Cricket Council in 1992, effectively severing links with the organisation of cricket in England. In 1994 Scotland became an Associate Member of the International Cricket Council.
The Scottish men's team competed in the Cricket World Cup in 1999. It lost all five of its matches and was eliminated in the preliminary round. Scotland failed to qualify for the 2003 World Cup but successfully qualified for the 2007 event in the West Indies. Scotland won the qualifying tournament, the ICC Trophy, in Ireland in 2005. Scotland played Australia, South Africa and the Netherlands in the opening group stage in 2007. Most of the members of Scotland's national team are amateurs, although a few Scots have played professionally in English domestic cricket, and for the England national team, including former captain Mike Denness.