Emily Dark gets Scotland recall for EuroHockey qualifiers in France

The 22-year-old, who won the Premiership and Scottish Cup with Watsonians last season, replaces Becky Ward of Western Wildcats, who has retired from international hockey, in the 18-strong squad.

Ruth Blaikie, who lives in Amsterdam, comes in for Millie Steiger of Clydesdale Western who is unavailable because of work commitments.

Blaikie starred for Scotland in the recent under-21 European Championship in Ghent and should earn her first senior cap during the tournament.

Scotland are ranked above all their opponents at No 17 in the world and open their campaign in Dunkirk against Austria, ranked No 31, on August 24 followed by matches against hosts France, on August 25 and Switzerland on August 27.

Their most recent encounter with Austria was at the EuroHockey Championship II in 2019, when they won 3-0, but they are an unknown quantity this time.

France were beaten 6-0 when they last met in 2019 but they are hosting the tournament and are channelling cash towards hockey with the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024. Switzerland would love to beat the Scots and claim a big scalp.

Scotland must will all of the games to cement their place in the top flight. Second and third place will qualify for EuroHockey Championship II and bottom place team qualifies for EuroHockey Championship III.

Chris Duncan, Scotland's head coach, said the EuroHockey qualifiers have always been the priority this summer.

He explained: “We were excited to compete at the Commonwealth Games and put on a good showing, finishing sixth.

"However, if we want to keep moving forward towards our goal of becoming a top ten nation, then we have to play against the best teams and that means qualifying for the EuroHockey Championships."

Duncan, who is also director of