THE Scots are bound to be all fired up for their Intercontinental Cup fixture against Kenya in Nairobi starting on January 25. For that, according to the useful Wisden Cricketer 2010 diary, is the date Scotland commemorates national poet Robbie Burns with 'Burns Night' - when millions of Scots across the world down a wee dram of whisky or two and tuck into a portion of haggis to honour the 'immortal memory' of the famous 18th century bard.

Last year, 2009, was the 250th anniversary of Burns' birth, so the celebrations were huge; this coming year, 2010 (and it will be wise for the Scots cricketers to heed this), they are scheduled to be a mite more muted.

In contrast, when on August 11, 2010, the Afghans begin their Intercontinental Cup match against the Scots, in Scotland, it will be the first day of Ramadan. How they will cope with playing a four-day match, one wonders, given the dietary obligations of Islam and the massive length of day in Scotland at that time of year?

It is said, of course, that an 'army' marches on its stomach, so maybe this will similarly be the case with both the Scotland and Afghanistan teams; the one trying not to eat (or drink) too much, the other trying not to eat (or drink) too little or anything at all.

The 2010 Wisden Cricketer diary, indeed, contains a lot of valuable information besides the menu laid out for the Kenyans, Afghans and Scots.
For instance, when Namibia play South Africa's Borders side in a one-day match at Windhoek next Sunday (January 10) they will be able also to celebrate the anniversary of the opening of the London Underground between Paddington and Farrington (sic) in 1863; likewise it is wonderful to know that, when South Africa and England meet in the Fourth Test at Johannesburg on January 14, eight years previously the United Kingdom had been declared free from Foot-and-Mouth infection.

Uganda's Intercontinental Shield match in the United Arab Emirates on January 20 coincides with the capture of the Archbishop of Canterbury's envoy Terry Waite in Beirut in 1987, and the day the Twenty20 world cup qualifiers begin in Abu Dhabi and Dubai (February 9) is the anniversary of the Derby-winning racehorse Shergar being stolen in 1983.

Kenya meet Canada in Dubai (February 10) to celebrate New Delhi becoming capital of India in 1931 - the two sides may be playing there against each other, if they're allowed to, in the next ICC World Cup on March 7, 2011 - and Kenya's game against the Netherlands on February 11 marks Nelson Mandela's release from jail in Cape Town in 1990.

One could go on. And why not? The day the ICC Division 5 matches begin in Nepal on February 20 will be the 112th anniversary of the birth of sports car manufacturer Enzo Ferrari, and Namibia's Intercontinental Shield match with Bermuda (April 2) marks the anniversary of the occupation by Argentina of the Malvinas (Falkland Islands) in 1982.

Later in the year, when the ICC World Twenty20 in the West Indies and the soccer (Fifa) World Cup in South Africa are safely over, Canada's four-dayer against a Zimbabwe XI may have explosive content as it coincides with the anniversary of the lethal gas escape from volcanic Lake Nyos in Cameroon in 1986; while, in a possible foretaste of the future, Canada meet Ireland and the Netherlands the Zimbabwe XI on the 77th anniversary of the publication, in 1933, of HG Wells' 'The Shape of Things to Come'.

When Uganda take on Namibia in Kampala in the Intercontinental Shield on September 18 it will be 30 years to the day since rock legend Jimi Hendrix died, and when, two weeks later, Kenya take on Afghanistan in the Intercontinental Cup in Nairobi it will be the anniversary of natural scientist Charles Darwin's return to England, in 1836, after five years aboard HMS Beagle.

They will be wanting to get on with it for the Zimbabwe XI's fixture against Ireland on October 6 because this day coincides with Thomas Edison showing his first motion picture in 1889, and when, a week after this, the Zimbabweans line up against that other Celtic nation, Scotland, they will be able to celebrate, if they so wish, the replacement of Istanbul by Ankara as the capital of Turkey - and they're playing cricket there now - in 1923.

But perhaps the best snippets should be left to last: during the four-day ICC Intercontinental Shield and five-day Intercontinental Cup finals in Dubai at the end of November the cricket world will celebrate pop diva Tina Turner's birth (1939), playwright William Shakespeare's marriage to Anne Hathaway (1582), navigator Ferdinand Magellan's entry into the Pacific Ocean from the Atlantic (1520) and - for the Intercontinental Cup final itself on November 29 - iconic rock group Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody' reaching number one in the charts in 1975 - 35 years ago.

And then it will be November 30 and St Andrew's Day, and so back to Scotland - where the first international football game took place between Scotland and England in 1872!

It's going to be an exciting 2010.