Calum MacLeod's career was once in doubt – now he is a hero after his one-day century in defeat of England

Last weekend, Calum MacLeod took some time off from Bexley Cricket Club, the Kent Premier League side where he is a player-coach. Instead, he did what no Scottish cricketer had done before: he scored a hundred against England. A few hours later, his team did what no Scotland side had ever done, and toppled England.

More than his century or even the victory, one moment has stayed with him. “I’ve never seen a pitch invasion in a Scottish cricket game. That’s something that will live with me.”

In the days before, MacLeod had focused on two main aspects. First, playing pace of the back foot – something that he seldom had need for in the Kent Premier League. And second, his sweep.

While a full-house against England beckoned, MacLeod found the experience liberating. Scotland aren’t used to playing in front of such crowds; but they are used to playing “under unbelievable pressure – there’ve been games where we know that if we don’t win, our jobs could be on the line”, such is the cut-throat nature of Associate cricket.

When MacLeod walked out at No 3 after a century opening stand “there didn’t need to be a rebuilding phase”. Instead, MacLeod could trust in his game. “Getting a couple of sweeps away early settled me. I knew it was an option that was going to work.” On 23, MacLeod swept consecutive fours – one in front of square, the next behind square – off Moeen Ali. “Against the spinners I didn’t want to be defending. I wanted to put the pressure back on them.”

Over the next two hours, MacLeod produced a display of pure, uninhibited and audacious hitting. And he had his personal moment of history. “To do it against the No 1 side in the world – it was a very special moment for me. Knowing that it was on the way to producing a very big score that would give us a chance was even more pleasing.” It had done much more than give Scotland a chance.

Yet many of MacLeod’s team-mates did not even think his unbeaten 140 was the best innings he played this year. Instead, they point to the 157 not out that MacLeod made against Rashid Khan – then ranked the No 1 bowler in the world – and Afghanistan in the World Cup qualifiers in March. “It was turning, it was skidding, it was very tricky,” recalls Scotland’s coach Grant Bradburn.

A few months before, during a preparation camp in South Africa, MacLeod was practising in the nets where the ball was turning as it seldom does in Scotland. He hadn’t played his sweep for 18 months, but thought he would try it again. “I started to hit it well enough that I thought, ‘OK, this is going to be my number one plan’.”

This shot – or really several shots, for MacLeod can place his sweep from fine leg to wide long-on – is a legacy of MacLeod’s upbringing playing hockey. It would underpin two of the greatest ODI innings of the year: 297 unbeaten runs against the world’s No 1 bowler and then team, and all without offering a single chance. Never has Rashid Khan conceded more to any one batsman in a single game of limited overs as the 49 runs in 31 balls he leaked to MacLeod in Zimbabwe.

These two brilliant innings also showcased another MacLeod trait: his penchant for capitalising when he gets in. In ODI history, only seven batsmen have made more than MacLeod’s four scores of 140 or more.

Such ruthlessness is the product, he believes, of knowing the vicissitudes of the sport. Aged 19, MacLeod made his international debut as a fast bowler – and once batted at number 11. He was reported for a suspect action in the 2009 World Twenty20, and lost his county contract with Warwickshire.

Through sheer force of will, and a Cricket Scotland contract, he rebuilt himself as a top-order batsman. There have been other painful moments too: losing his contract with Durham, his second county, in 2016; and then the excruciating near-miss on reaching the 2019 World Cup. He said: “One of the things that helps me get big scores is that I can appreciate what the lowest things in cricket are and I don’t want to miss out when having a good day.” 

MacLeod’s   performance against England was in front of his dad Donald, Cricket Scotland’s photographer.

He hopes that a new T20 contract with Derbyshire – announced the day after the England game, but agreed earlier – will help him become more involved in the T20 circuit. And he hopes that, in spite of the World Cup being cut to 10 teams, Scotland’s fourth victory over a Test nation in a year will lead to “more meaningful cricket against some of the top nations”.

A week ago, Calum scored the most famous innings in Scotland’s cricket history and was man of the match. And Donald took the most iconic photographs of the day – of Calum raising his bat for his century, and Safyaan Sharif’s victory-clinching wicket. It would be hard for any batsman who played an innings like it to forget it; even harder if their dad took the photographs. “I keep seeing videos and pictures of it,” he reflects. “It was just emotion, pure joy of getting that first win against England.”