Scottish cricket has entered a new era of professionalism but even as the three recipients of full-time contracts toasted their opportunity, a reminder rang in their ears of how quickly they must justify the outlay.

In April, Scotland will take part in the 2011 World Cup Qualifier in South Africa where a top-four finish will set them on a solid road to a tournament intended to be held in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. But the gap between success and failure is truly profound.

For the past four years Cricket Scotland has received an annual $250,000 from the ICC for their participation at the 2007 World Cup. That support will rise to $350,000 as long as the national side finish in the top ten in South Africa and remain under the "High Performance" umbrella. A top-six place and they will retain one-day international status and receive about $500,000, and the agreement with England for a match every four years will remain. Qualify for the World Cup and the coffers will be bloated by $650,000 each year, with the modest professional contingent unveiled yesterday doubling in size.

Captain Ryan Watson and seam bowlers Dewald Nel (right) and Gordon Goudie will be the first recipients of central funds to allow them to train and play for Scotland without recourse to alternative employment. Watson has left his job as a brewery salesman while Nel, 28, and Goudie, 21, have spent time on the books of English counties (Worcestershire and Middlesex respectively) and spent the intervening months and years pining for this day to dawn. Not since 2001, when Sportscotland withdrew Talented Athlete funding from four players after Scotland's failure to reach the 2003 World Cup, has a Scot made a real living from playing cricket north of Hadrian's Wall.

Below the professional tier, CS has created three groups of part-time contracts which will not be means-based but instead distributed according to past achievement and stature. The carrot for the up-and-coming is that match appearances and win bonuses are greater than they were under the old retainer system, so a youngster on the bottom rung of funding may, if he has a good year, be able to make a five-figure sum while angling all the time for "promotion". Full-timers will pick up between £20,000 and £30,000 depending on fitness and results.

Chief executive Roddy Smith said the overall outlay amounted at this stage to an annual £200,000, including all available bonuses, but admitted the postponement of the Champions Trophy in Pakistan, which slashed the ICC's budget for associate members, had wrecked his hopes of creating a bigger professional pool this Christmas.

"I think it's a good solution. It's not the ideal scenario but it's a lot better than it was," said Smith. "There are various incentives attached to performance at the World Cup Qualifier so we still have to plan in the short term in the meantime, and it's a very cut-throat environment.

"Initially these contracts are for one year, and dependent on how the guys do in South Africa, and they will be reviewed in August or September. But we hope to qualify for 2011 and bring in two or three more full-time players.

"The key thing is for these full-time boys to be fit and able to play full-time cricket and not do anything else. The three full-timers you could logically say will play the majority of the games, but equally Nel and Goudie will have to be protected and used sensibly, because they are the young guys who will spearhead our attack along with Blain and others.

"The money has never been a motivator for the Scotland guys, this is simply a means of rewarding them for the hours and hours they spend preparing and playing. It's certainly not enough money to be life-changing, unfortunately."

Players' representative Dougie Lockhart, whose career as a stockbroker made him one player who made Smith's job of playing God with livelihoods a little easier, said: "We have known for a couple of months that the budget was going to be reduced, but clearly now all the focus is on qualifying for the World Cup and the guys realise what is at stake. The possibility of going full-time and reaping a financial reward is clearly there.

"If we can eventually get 12 to 16 guys who are travelling the world playing cricket all year round, that is what we have to strive for and this is the first step. The guys don't just want to play cricket for money, but obviously they have made huge sacrifices for the last 10-15 years for zero financial reward and now there are opportunities to make a career from cricket, which is what we want."

Lockhart said he was sure there would be no divisions within the 25-man squad based on who earns what, but there is already a gap between his understanding of the incentives for a top-four finish in South Africa ("three, four or five more full-time contracts") and Smith's target of "two or three".

"If we qualify for 2011, the rest of the money would have to be used to take the guys out to the subcontinent every year to prepare. They will have to make two or three trips out there to get used to playing in those conditions prior to the World Cup," explained the chief executive.

Full-time: R Watson, G Goudie, D Nel.

Part-time: J Blain (Yorkshire), R Berrington, K Coetzer (Durham), G Drummond, G Hamilton, M Haq, O Hussain, M Iqbal (Durham), D Lockhart, R Lyons, G Maiden, N McCallum, C MacLeod (Warwickshire), N Poonia (Warwickshire), G Rogers, Q Sheikh, C Smith, S Smith, J Stander, F Watts, S Weeraratna, C Wright.