Who says size doesn't matter in basketball? A player who at the end of last year could not command a place in the starting five of the Edinburgh Burger Kings junior side and will not be 17 until December has been called into the Scotland team for this weekend's Four Countries Under-23 Championship in Ware, Herts.

He will join a side which includes several players who have represented Scotland at senior level including Ross Szifris, Keith Bunyan and Campbell Flockhart.

Young Ronnie Gordon is 6ft 8in tall, an asset which other sports, notably football and rugby also find appealing. Indeed the Peebles High schoolboy has already featured in goal for the Alloa Athletic reserve team.

It is not surprising though that the West Linton lad favours the hoops game. His father Ronnie was a stalwart of Edinburgh Hornets and Pentland and also represented Scotland and Great Britain.

Ronnie junior was called into the Scottish Under-18 team for the Four Countries Tournament in Aberdeen last month and, by all accounts, was a success. However, his selection for Ware, where he replaces Neil Dickson (Midlothian Bulls), who injured ankle ligaments last weekend, is still a surprise as he has not been training with the squad.

''It came right out of the blue,'' admitted Gordon.

Coach Toni Szifris, who had been impressed with the way Gordon performed for him in Kings' winning Scottish Under-23 Cup final team, explained simply: ''We needed the height.''

There is no question of Gordon's selection being a long-term development move however as Scotland have only taken 10 players south for their three games. ''I simply want to make sure we win as many as possible,'' added Szifris, who had created controversy by omitting any Glasgow Sports Division players from his line-up.

In fact with the previous withdrawal of Alastair Rae and now Dickson, Midlothian Bull Bobby Cosgrove is the only West of Scotland-based player in the 10.

Scotland play Ireland today and Wales tomorrow with hopes of victory in both games.