Watson rejects full-time contract

Watson stood down as captain after a disappointing summer

Former captain Ryan Watson has declined the offer to remain as one of Scotland's full-time players for 2010.

Majid Haq joins Gordon Goudie and Dewald Nel as one of three full-time players after Watson opted to return to full-time employment outside cricket.

Richie Berrington, Ross Lyons, Qasim Sheikh and Simon Smith have been offered full-time six-month contracts.

The news came as Scotland selectors announced a national squad of 18 players for next year.

Watson had stood down as captain in the summer after Scotland's failure to qualify for next summer's World Cup finals.

In a strategic change from previous years, there will also be three regional squads and an academy squad underneath the national group.

These players will have separate training sessions and, with the national squad and academy players, form the basis for the regional and Scotland Lions games that will take place in 2010.

Our young squad has some major challenges to look forward to in the year ahead Scotland head coach Peter Steindl

Scotland's chairman of selectors Iain Kennedy said: "We have reduced the national squad in size to allow our head coach, Peter Steindl, to concentrate on a smaller core group of players.

"We have also made a significant change by having the regional and academy squads selected to feed into our national squad.

"This will allow far more contact time between coaches and players at a local level, which will hopefully accelerate the development of the talented players we have just below national level.

"2010 will be a challenging year, with lots of cricket to be played in all three formats of the game, and I am sure there will be many opportunities for players to force their way into the national team."

Steindl was excited by the year ahead.

"Our young squad has some major challenges to look forward to in the year ahead," he said.

"These 18 players will form the core of our team, with players from the regional and academy squads pushing them hard for their places in the national team.

"The season in 2010 will last for 10 months, from our start in Kenya in January through to the last Intercontinental Cup game in October, so there will be opportunities for all the players to stake a claim to be part of a Scotland team moving forward."

---

Scotland squad: Richie Berrington, Kyle Coetzer, Gordon Drummond, Gordon Goudie, Majid Haq, Gavin Hamilton, Moneeb Iqbal, Ross Lyons, Neil McCallum, Dewald Nel, Navdeep Poonia, Callum MacLeod, Glenn Rogers, Qasim Sheikh, Simon Smith, Jan Stander, Ryan Watson and Fraser Watts.