Neil McCallum stole the show last night as Scotland grabbed revenge against Canada at chilly Mannofield.
Neil McCallum stole the show last night as Scotland grabbed revenge against Canada at chilly Mannofield.
The Grange batsman hammered a sparkling unbeaten 79 after captain Gavin Hamilton and Ryan Watson had also scored half-centuries to help the Saltires ease to a five- wicket win with sixteen balls to spare.
Needing 251 for victory, Scotland's hopes of squaring the two-match ODI series were dealt a blow when Fraser Watts was run out for a duck. Watts had shared a record partnership with Hamilton on Tuesday but on this occasion he hadn't even faced a delivery when his mix-up with the captain allowed Shaheed Keshvani to throw down the stumps.
Nav Poonia also went cheaply but Hamilton, in partnership with Watson, launched a defiant counter-attack. The pair added 96 for the third wicket with Hamilton stroking five boundaries in a 78-ball fifty. The captain eventually fell for 59 but Watson went on to hit 74 from 99 balls before McCallum took centre stage.
Scotland had suffered a mini-wobble when Watson and Gordon Drummond fell to consecutive deliveries from Harvir Baidwan. However, the Grange batsman shrugged-off the setback to lead the victory charge. He hammered 12 boundaries in his 66-ball 79 while Stuart Chalmers lent valuable support in his first international innings.
Earlier Drummond claimed three quick wickets to reduce the Canadians to 28-3. Taking the new ball after Jan Stander failed a fitness test, the Carlton all-rounder had Rizwan Cheema caught in the deep by McCallum.
Drummond struck an even bigger blow when he had Tuesday's centurion Sandeep Jyoti trapped in front for a duck.
He completed a treble of early strikes when Watson held a sharp chance at short mid-wicket to remove Ashif Mulla.
Zuban Sarkari and Ashish Bagai steadied the ship before the former chopped a Majid Haq delivery on to his stumps.
Scottish tails were up when Marc Petrie claimed his first international dismissal, the Arbroath teenager neatly stumping Bagai off a nicely flighted delivery from Ross Lyons.
However, Lyons went from saint to sinner in the next over when he was guilty of dropping Sunil Dhaniram at mid-off.
It proved a costly drop as the veteran batsman went on to hit his highest score in one-day internationals. The 40-year-old former Guyana batsman faced just 88 balls for his punishing 92 which included eight boundaries.
Dhaniram was eventually caught by McCallum at deep cover to give Ally Evans his first Scotland scalp.
His departure allowed the Scots to pick up some late wickets but there was also time for Khurram Chohan to strike a monster six off Watson that cleared the perimeter wall.
"It was vital that we bounced back after losing the last two ODIs to Canada," McCallum said afterwards. "The defeat in the qualifiers has been a bitter pill to swallow for all the players and the whole of Scottish cricket. But today's game was about how we bounced back after Tuesday and it was great to put things right straight away.
"I thought we bowled and fielded much better and stuck to our plans and then gave a pretty solid display with the bat. From a personal point of view that's the best I've played since I got a couple of centuries in South Africa.
"It's always nice to get a few runs and I'm enjoying my cricket again. But it's also good to see some youngsters coming into the side and doing well. That keeps you on your toes as one of the more established players."
