Calum Scott MacLeod (born 15 November 1988) is a Scottish professional

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

er. He has represented the

Scotland national team The Scotland national football team gd, Sgioba Ball-coise Nàiseanta na h-Alba sco, Scotland National Fitbaa Team represents Scotland in men's international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. It competes in the thr ...

since 2008, including at the 2015 World Cup and the 2016 World Twenty20. He has played

county cricket Inter-county cricket matches are known to have been played since the early 18th century, involving teams that are representative of the historic counties of England and Wales. Since the late 19th century, there have been two county championship ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

for

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

and Durham. In January 2019, MacLeod was named the ICC Associate Player of the Year at the 2018 ICC Awards.

Early life

MacLeod was born in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated pop ...

. He attended Hillpark Secondary School, the Glasgow Gaelic School at the time. His family originally comes from Johnshaven, near Aberdeen and the island of

South Uist South Uist ( gd, Uibhist a Deas, ; sco, Sooth Uist) is the second-largest island of the Outer Hebrides in Scotland. At the 2011 census, it had a usually resident population of 1,754: a decrease of 64 since 2001. The island, in common with the ...

in the

Outer Hebrides The Outer Hebrides () or Western Isles ( gd, Na h-Eileanan Siar or or ("islands of the strangers"); sco, Waster Isles), sometimes known as the Long Isle/Long Island ( gd, An t-Eilean Fada, links=no), is an island chain off the west coas ...

Domestic and T20 franchise career

As a youth MacLeod played for Drumpellier Cricket Club, where he made massive strides under the tutelage of Graham Robertson. Following the advice of Graham he moved to the Scottish National Cricket League Premier Division with Uddingston Cricket Club, as an opening bowler and middle order batsman. He played in the 2006 U-19 Cricket World Cup in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. After making some 70 appearances with Scotland age group sides (U12 to U23), he secured a retainer contract with Warwickshire for the 2006 season, to play Under-17s, Under-19s and 2nd XI cricket. Awarded an improved contract for 2007, he ended the season as joint top wicket-taker in the Warwickshire 2nd XI and was voted "Most Improved 2nd XI Player of the Year" by the County side. In November 2007 the 19-year-old MacLeod signed a two-year contract with Warwickshire. He spent winter 2007/8 playing Grade cricket for Penrith in Sydney and returned to

Moseley Cricket Club Moseley Cricket Club is an amateur cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three s ...

as their contracted County player for 2008 in the Birmingham Premier Cricket League. MacLeod gained his full first-class Scotland cap when he was called up for the Intercontinental Cup match against the UAE in 2007, becoming the youngest Scottish player to debut at this level. During the 2008 Friends Provident series MacLeod played two matches against Durham and

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

and was selected for two

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World Cup ...

ties against

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both of which succumbed to rain. Despite international absences and a stomach injury which reduced his Warwickshire 2nd XI appearances, MacLeod's 2008 season ended with debut matches in the Warwickshire first team, both away from home, against

a match abandoned due to rain and

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the no ...

in a Pro40 win. In October, with another season still to run on his current deal, MacLeod was offered, and accepted, a new improved two-year contract to run until the end of the 2010 season. In 2014, he along with John Hastings holds the highest 6th wicket partnership in T20 history (126*) MacLeod spent the 2016 season playing for Boldon Cricket Club in the North East Premier League. In 2018, he began playing for Bexley in the Kent Premier League. In June 2019, he was selected to play for the Toronto Nationals franchise team in the 2019 Global T20 Canada tournament. In July 2019, he was selected to play for the Edinburgh Rocks in the inaugural edition of the

Euro T20 Slam The Euro T20 Slam is a planned professional Twenty20 cricket league. The first edition of the tournament was initially scheduled to start in August 2019, with matches to be held in Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands. It's launch has been post ...

cricket tournament. However, the following month the tournament was cancelled.

International career

His first ODI cap came in the historic match against

on 18 August 2008 where he scored 10 not out from 11 balls before that game, too, fell victim to rain. As early as June 2009, during the World Twenty20, Warwickshire's coaching staff noticed that MacLeod's bowling action may have been problematic. After an Intercontinental Cup match against

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

in July 2010 in which MacLeod took six wickets, the umpires reported to the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, its members are List of International Cricket Council members, 108 national associations, with 12 List of Internation ...

that his action needed to be tested. In 2010, MacLeod was one of six cricketers given full-time contracts with Cricket Scotland. MacLeod did not play a single list A match in 2010. MacLeod was released by Warwickshire at the end of the 2010 season. Having left

, MacLeod's next list A match was for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

in the 2011

Clydesdale Bank 40 The ECB40, last known as the Yorkshire Bank 40 (YB40) for sponsorship reasons, was a forty-over limited overs cricket competition for the English first-class counties. It began in the 2010 English cricket season as a replacement for the Pro40 a ...

. The England Cricket Board had launched the competition the previous year and

was included along with the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and the 18 first-class teams from

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

won two of their twelve matches that year, had one no result and lost the rest, finishing bottom of their group. MacLeod managed 92 runs from six matches with a highest score of 33. In the 2011 Karp Hong Kong Super Sixes event MacLeod was placed 4th in the Championship Player stats, and 5th in the Batting stats. In March 2012 the UAE hosted the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier. During

's win against

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...

, MacLeod scored 104

not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at t ...

from 76 deliveries. With 307 runs from 9 matches (including one century and two fifties) he was Scotland's leading run-scorer in the tournament and fifth overall. Though

progressed to the preliminary finals, they lost to the

in which MacLeod scored 57 from 42 in the match and failed to qualify for the World Twenty20 later that year. MacLeod made 175, the second highest score by an Associate player in an

ODI ODI may refer to: * Object Design, Incorporated, a defunct database software company * One Day International, cricket match * Open Data Institute, a UK not-for-profit company promoting open data * Open Data-Link Interface, an implementation of th ...

and third highest by an Associate player in

List A List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...

cricket, in a 170-run romp over

to seal a place for

in the Super Sixes and put an end to

's consecutive

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

streak dating back to 2003. MacLeod erased any chance of that happening with 175 off 141 balls in

's total of 341 for 9. On 10 June 2018, Scotland secured the biggest win in their cricketing history with a six-run, first-ever, defeat of England with MacLeod scoring 140 not out with 16 fours and 3 sixes off 94 balls. In August 2019, during the 2019 Scotland Tri-Nation Series in Scotland, MacLeod scored his 2,000th run in ODI cricket. In September 2019, he was named in Scotland's squad for the 2019 ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier tournament in the United Arab Emirates. Ahead of the tournament, the

(ICC) named him as the key player in Scotland's squad. On 24 October 2019, in the match against

Bermuda ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = "Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , ...

, MacLeod scored his 1,000th run in T20I cricket. In November 2020, MacLeod was nominated for the ICC Men's Associate Cricketer of the Decade award. In September 2021, MacLeod was named in Scotland's provisional squad for the

2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup The 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the seventh ICC Men's T20 World Cup tournament, with the matches played in the United Arab Emirates and Oman from 17 October to 14 November 2021. The West Indies were the defending champions, but were eventu ...

. MacLeod announced his retirement from international cricket on 31 October 2022, a few days after Scotland faced a first-round exit.

Bowling action

MacLeod was assisted by

and Cricket Scotland to remodel his action. After completing remedial work, followed by analysis and assessment by the ICC, he is now free to bowl in all domestic, national and international competition. During this period MacLeod concentrated on his batting technique to the extent that he now opens the batting for

in T20 matches, plays top-order in 50 over games, while confirming a strong middle-order presence in 3 and 4-day ties.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Macleod, Calum 1988 births Living people People educated at Hillpark Secondary School Scottish cricketers Scotland One Day International cricketers Scotland Twenty20 International cricketers Cricketers from Glasgow Warwickshire cricketers Durham cricketers Derbyshire cricketers Cricketers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup Paktia Panthers cricketers Sussex cricketers