News of Iain Wardlaw's ascent of Mt Everest has been greatly exaggerated and the Scottish seamer has to shoulder most of the blame.
Turns out the 29-year-old right-armer thought it might be a bit of a laugh to mention the imagined excursion during a Q&A published on Cricket Scotland's website.
His ''feat'' captured the media's attention and was reported widely.
But Scotland captain Preston Mommsen busted the myth during a press conference yesterday before his side's World Cup match against the Black Caps in Dunedin today.
''Iain Wardlaw, well, there has been a lot of press that he has climbed Mt Everest and that indeed is not true,'' Mommsen said.
''When he first played for Scotland he did a little Q&A and put it there as a joke and our media manager was guilty of putting it online.
''The ICC have taken a liking to that and it has been published all over the world.''
Scotland's real Everest begins today against New Zealand.
Scotland has failed to win a World Cup game in its two previous tournaments.
Its best opportunity of registering a victory shapes as its match against Afghanistan in Dunedin on February 26.
But it did push a strong New Zealand XI very close in a warm-up game in October.
''We watched a video this morning of that game and we took a huge amount from that game. We took them very close and really should have won that game.
''A lot of the guys playing [today] played in that game and so we have that to call upon and, hopefully, we can produce a similar performance tomorrow and take the game deep.
''We are very realistic about the opposition that we are up against. Obviously, New Zealand are a quality team and, the form they are currently in, they are going to be a difficult team to break down.''
