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Marcus Scotland gets some Cup Match inspiration

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Special gift: Marcus Scotland, right, is presented with a book containing his late grandfather's cricket exploits by Barry Souza (Photograph by Ras Mykkal)

Marcus Scotland has been handed all the inspiration he needs to make it into the St George’s Cup Match side after he was presented with a book containing his late grandfather’s exploits.

On Sunday, when St George’s faced St David’s at Lord’s, Barry Souza, a former St George’s Cup Match selector and team manager, handed the young cricketer some literature detailing Rupert Scotland’s achievements in the game.

The publication handed over to the wicketkeeper-batsman was about the 1968 single-wicket competition held at the former National Sports Club. It was at this event that the late Rupert took on, and beat, West Indies legend Sir Garfield Sobers.

Originally from Antigua, Rupert, who died at the age of 74 in 2012, established himself as a Bermuda cricketing legend, amassing 736 runs at an average of 30.67 from 1960 to 1978 with St George’s in the Annual Classic. He is also among an exclusive group of batters to have achieved two or more centuries in Cup Match.

Cricket legend Rupert Scotland (File photograph)

Marcus, 21, has followed in his grandfather Rupert and father Cleon’s footsteps by getting a taste of Cup Match. He was asked to be a stand-in wicketkeeper, following an injury to Sinclair Smith last year, which served as an inspiration for him to break into the starting XI.

Souza is hopeful that the young batter can draw inspiration from what his grandfather achieved..

“The book I gave him has some history about a single-wicket competition played at the National Sports Club,’’ Souza said.

“We had players such as Garfield Sobers playing in it. Randy Horton and all sorts of Cup Match players played in it.

“Rupert ended up playing Sir Garfield Sobers in the final to win the competition. He then went over to England to play in the single-wicket competition.

“Marcus is trying to break into Cup Match for St George’s and kept wicket as a reserve last year when the wicketkeeper got injured, so I hope this book inspires him.

“Rupert was one of the finest players in Bermuda by far, so his grandson’s got the pedigree to go far.

“Rupert was my captain [at National Sports Club] and I would say he was the best captain I ever played under.”

UPDATE: this story has been amended to correct that Rupert Scotland was never a Cup Match captain for St George’s and Barry Souza never played in the Annual Classic. We apologise for the errors

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Published May 30, 2024 at 7:58 am (Updated May 30, 2024 at 1:04 pm)

Marcus Scotland gets some Cup Match inspiration

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