In what is likely to provoke a heated debate, the Scotland selectors have named at least four English players, who qualify through having a Scottish parent, in their squad to tour South Africa next month.

Although the touring party, which heads off to the sun at the start of October, will not be officially announced until Monday, Cricket Europe understands that it will feature the likes of Matt Machan from Sussex, Richard Coughtrie of Gloucester, all-rounder Rob Taylor and David Murphy of Northants.

A source close to the team told me this weekend that the selections had already provoked strong emotions, not least because none of these players, who benefit from changes to the ICC eligibility regulations, had exactly set the heather on fire on the county circuit.

Machan, for instance, scored 126 not out in a CB 40 match this summer, but the 21-year-old managed fewer than 100 runs for Sussex in his other nine innings, and averaged just 21.80. Coughtrie, a 24-year-old wicket-keeper-batsman, was involved in seven matches and amassed a paltry tally of 104 runs at an average of 9.45.

Taylor, however, a Leicester all-rounder, showed distinct promise with the ball in the CB 40 and Friends T20 events, taking 18 wickets at a good average in the limited-overs format, although whether the Scots need another bits-and-pieces player is debatable.

And Murphy has played 19 List A games for the struggling county between 2010 and 2012 and has a highest score of 31 not out and average of 24.66 in these fixtures, batting down the order. The list of omissions highlights the problems of trying to arrange these sort of month-long tours, out of season, for players, many of whom remain part-timers with other work or university commitments.

It is believed that a string of players are unavailable for the trip to the Republic, including captain, Gordon Drummond, Kyle Coetzer, Ewan Chalmers, Freddie Coleman, Matthew Cross and Fraser Watts, while there is no place for the talented Oli Hairs, Matthew Parker is still recovering from an injury and the likes of Ross Lyons have, again, been ruled out of the equation.

If the English-born personnel prove themselves capable performers - and there could also be selection for Yorkshire's Ian Wardlaw - it will still leave many questions unanswered about whether these cricketers are any better than those in the current Scotland set-up.

And if they fail, it will surely have people wondering whether Scottish cricket is heading down the same misguided route as happened in rugby more than a decade ago.

LIKELY SCOTLAND SQUAD (For South African tour): Richie Berrington, Richard Coughtrie, Josh Davey, Ali Evans, Ryan Flannigan, Gordon Goudie, Majid Haq, Moneeb Iqbal, Calum MacLeod, Matt Machan, Preston Mommsen (captain), David Murphy, Safyaan Sharif, Rob Taylor, Ian Wardlaw.