Scotland are looking forward to life under a new head coach

New Scotland coach Peter Steindl has named his first winter training party and expressed confidence that he has a strong squad at his disposal.

Steindl and his assistant, Adrian Birrell - formerly Ireland's World Cup coach - will have a first look at their new charges next month.

"We have a strong nucleus of experienced players from which to choose," said Steindl.

"And our hope is that the A squad will challenge these players hard."

Places in the lead-up to the ICC World Cup qualifier in 2009 are up for grabs.

Named in the winter training squad are familiar names from county cricket and Scotland's World Cup campaigns, such as John Blain, Dougie Brown, Gavin Hamilton and Kyle Coetzer.

"We will have an intensive three-month indoor schedule, followed by our training camp and games in Namibia in March and April," said the coach.

"Adrian and I are looking forward immensely to working with the squad."

Scotland squad

J Blain, M Haq, O Hussain (all Ferguslie), D Brown, D Nel (both Barnt Green), K Coetzer (Durham), G Drummond (Watsonians), R Lyons, Q Sheikh (both Clydesdale), N McCallum, S Smith (both Grange), G Hamilton, N Poonia (Warwickshire), G Rogers (Stenhousemuir), C Smith (wkt, Aberdeenshire), R Watson (Forfarshire), F Watts (Carlton), C Wright (Greenock).

Scotland A squad

R Berrington, S Weeraratna (both Greenock), E Chalmers (Watsonians), S Coetzer, G Goudie, J Stander (all Stoneywood Dyce), G Holmes, N MacRae, G Maiden, (all Grange), M Iqbal (Durham), S Knox (Heriots), D Lockhart (wkt, West of Scotland), S MacLennan (Oxford University/Grange), C MacLeod (Warwickshire) U Mohammed (Forfarshire), S Murray (Ferguslie), Z Bashir, K Farid (both Clydesdale), S Redhead (Durham Academy).