Pete Steindl last night insisted his side's drubbings by Afghanistan are a dis-appointment rather than a disaster.

The Afghans yesterday took just six balls to deliver the final hammer blow and clinch an innings victory in a one-sided Intercontinental Cup match in Abu Dhabi.

Gordon Drummond, the captain, was the last man out, bowled for 16, as the Scots surrendered second place in the eight-team table.

It completed a dire series of games in which a new-look Scotland side lost five times in three formats of the game to their Asian rivals. However, Steindl, whose position has come under scrutiny along with that of Drummond, has called for calm evaluation and a sense of perspective rather than a knee-jerk reaction to the setbacks.

He said: "The players are all disappointed, and so am I, but we have to retain a sense of perspective. We have lost to a very good Afghanistan side but we're not giving up. The process of evaluation has already begun. We've been training today and we've had one-to-ones with the players to discuss where they can improve and do things differently."

Afghanistan got the series off to a flying start with two comfortable Twenty20 wins and then struck a major blow by winning both the 50-over World Cup qualifiers.

With Scotland's confidence at rock bottom, they were rank outsiders going into the Intercontinental Cup match, especially after they lost the toss and were forced to bat in tough conditions.

However, there were no excuses from Steindl for his side's collapse to 68-9 or for a similar top-order slump in the second innings. "The toss did make a difference, there is no doubt about that," said the Australian. "But the reality is we were outplayed. I can't really fault the bowlers who were pretty disciplined.

"We kept their scoring rate to just over two an over so the effort was there. But you can't afford to be five wickets down so early, and for it to happen twice put us in an impossible position."

Steindl has no regrets about picking five new players, who became eligible during the winter as a result of the ICC's parentage rule. He added: "We picked the best 15 players and we prepared as well as we could but we will evaluate whether we could have done anything differently.

"Everyone has stuck at it in every game but, when it came to the critical moments in matches, we were found wanting."

Scotland's hopes of reaching a second consecutive I-Cup final appear to be over after yesterday's defeat but they still have two chances of quali-fying for the 2015 World Cup.

Victories in their last four matches – against Kenya and Ireland – may be enough for them to claim one of the two automatic places. However, a second qualification tournament will take place later this year when the bottom six teams in the World Cricket League Division One will be joined by the top four from Division Two.

"There is a long way to go," said Steindl. "We are as determined as ever to reach the World Cup."