Scotland ease to eight-wicket win

Mike Stanger reports on an excellent Intercontinental Cup victory by Scotland over Kenya on their home ground, which keeps the Scots at the top of the I-Cup table...

In the end, Scotland won by a significant margin. And considering the relative youthfulness of Gordon Drummond's team, it was an enormously encouraging victory, signalling the coming of age of several players.

In reality, the situation at the start of the fourth and final day's play was tense, with Kenya seeking to increase their slender lead, and also to minimise the time remaining for the Scots to chase the required runs.

With Kenyan captain Maurice Ouma 106* overnight, it all hung on his shoulders. For Scotland, the targets were the three tailenders that needed to be removed as quickly as possible.

Drummond made some shrewd bowling changes in search of a quick resolution, but it was an hour before the breakthrough came, when Otieno, on the back foot to Nel, got a thin edge to Simon Smith for the eighth wicket.

That was the signal for the final collapse, and it was just a surprise that Ouma was the next to, two overs later, out for a masterful 130 after pushing forward defensively, to give Nel his fifth wicket of the innings, finishing with figures of 5-107.

One over later, and Ngoche gave Haq his third wicket - Smith's sixth catch of the match - to bring an end to Kenya's resistance. All out 323, with the Scots needing 109 to win with more than two sessions remaining.

Kyle Coetzer and Dougie Lockhart set out on the journey, knowing there was no particular hurry. That doesn't interest the likes of Coetzer who, having got to 34 off 47 balls, had a go at a widish ball outside off stump and got an edge to Ouma.

First-innings centurion Qasim Sheikh was next to go, in unfortunate circumstances. Lockhart called him for a quick single, then changed his mind, leaving Sheikh stranded in mid-pitch, run out for 4.

Lockhart (51*) made amends by seeing the task through with Euan Chalmers (18*), the end coming in the 33rd over.

Lockhart's unbeaten half-century was good to see, and will no doubt be a source of satisfaction as he and four other I-Cup players now fly back to Scotland. For Drummond, the unbeaten captain in the I-Cup, there can be no greater praise as most of his players contributed in one way or another.

Six other Scottish players are flying out to join the others in four T20 matches in Nairobi, against Kenya and Uganda, that are now being regarded as 'official' T20 internationals by the ICC. Then, on February 5, they all fly to Dubai for the World T20 Championships qualifying tournament. The going gets tough...

Final Scoreboard: Kenya 91ao (Berrington 3-13, Drummond 3-18) and 323ao (Nel 5-107, Haq 3-46); Scotland 306ao (Sheikh 108, Berrington 80) and 110-2 (Lockhart 51*, Coetzer 34)

Day 4 Report     Day 4 Commentary

Day 3 Report    Day 3 Commentary

Day 2 Report   Day 2 Commentary

Day 1 Report   Day 1 Commentary

To see the updated I-Cup table click HERE

[scorecard]