Gordon Drummong led by example yesterday as he batted Scotland back from the brink of disaster against Canada. Deputising for captain Gavin Hamil�ton, the Carlton all-rounder recorded a face-saving 52 after his side had been reduced to 102-8.

Gordon Drummong led by example yesterday as he batted Scotland back from the brink of disaster against Canada.

Deputising for captain Gavin Hamilton, the Carlton all-rounder recorded a face-saving 52 after his side had been reduced to 102-8.

Drummond then claimed two wickets as the Canadians finished the day on 108-7 - trailing the Scots by 77 runs. "I'm delighted to have done my bit as captain because I'm a great believer that if you are going to be preaching to others then you've got to be able to do it yourself," said Drummond.

"We had spoken before the game about the need to adapt after all the one-day cricket we've been playing, but we were caught on the hop a bit.

"The ball was doing a bit but we still played too many loose shots on a wicket where we had hoped to get 300."

In the event the Scots had to make do with 185 thanks to Drummond's ninth wicket stand of 83 with Simon Smith (29no).

"I was delighted to get a few runs for the team and Simon gave me some great support,"

added Drummond. "There is still a lot of hard work to be done but we've given ourselves a great chance of claiming a first innings lead and going on to win the game."

Drummond's decision to bat first had backfired as his team-mates conjured up a catastrophic collapse. Moneeb Iqbal was first to go - trapped in front by Umar Bhatti.

Fraser Watts, having hit two boundaries in his 21, followed when he edged a Henry Osinde delivery to give Ashif Mulla the first of his five catches.

Richie Berrington was then clean-bowled by Khurram Chohan before Scotland's hopes of a substantial total received an even bigger blow with the loss of Ryan Watson.

The former captain had hit three boundaries in one over off Osinde but gave the bowler his revenge by edging a wide one to the keeper for 37.

Chohan then struck twice in as many balls to reduce the Scottish innings to tatters on 81-6 at lunch.

The former Lahore pace bowler had Neil McCallum caught in the slips but received a huge slice of luck when Jan Stander was adjudged lbw for a first-ball duck.

Ewan Chalmers had his debut knock cut short when he joined Chohan's list of victims before the departure of Majid Haq to another Mulla catch left Scotland facing humiliation on 102-8 before Drummond and Smith began their salvage operation.