When it mattered, Scotland finally produced a performance meritingtheir pre-tournament status as one of the two favourites, thumping UAEby 122 runs and, with it, retaining their status as an internationalcountry by the thinnest of margins

Will Luke in Benoni17-Apr-2009
ScorecardGavin Hamilton’s ton ensured Scotland retain their financially lucrative ODI status•Ian Jacobs / Cricinfo LtdWhen it mattered, Scotland finally produced a performance meritingtheir pre-tournament status as one of the two favourites, thumping UAEby 122 runs and, with it, retaining their status as an internationalcountry by the thinnest of margins.To produce it at this last-gaspstage of proceedings, however, will not lessen the disappointment ofthe loyal supporters – a few of whom were scattered around Benonitoday – nor, more prosaically, Scotland Cricket or the ICC, both ofwhom have invested four years of money and time into a team who haveplayed well beneath themselves. A Scottish stalwart, Gavin Hamilton,came to their rescue yet again with 127 from just 124 balls, butquestions remain about Scotland’s poor performances.UAE either fire explosively or implode rather limply. Today they chosethe latter, though were undone by a fine display of seam-and-swingfrom Scotland’s ever-green allrounder Craig Wright. The formercaptain, now 34 and who many expect to stand down at the end of thistournament, produced tidy figures of 4 for 41 from 10 nagging overs asUAE chased an unlikely, but gettable, 300 on a very flat surface.John Blain removed Amjad Javed, who has sunk rapidly since hisbreathtaking 164 earlier in the tournament and, in the 10th over,Wright picked up his first wicket when Arshad Ali was neatly held byGavin Hamilton. Saqib Ali was also safely held by Calum Macleod atmid-off, but Nithin Gopal stood in Scotland’s way with a carefullycrafted 50 from 72 balls. Two of his three fours were streaky, but heprovided UAE with a vital anchor upon which to base their chase. On50, however, he dropped one out to Neil McCallum at point whose throwto the non-striker’s end was fast, flat and left Gopal comfortablyshort. At 125 for 5, in the 27th over, UAE’s chase was all butfinished and, as evidence of Scotland’s growing confidence, KyleCoetzer held a fine chance on the deep extra cover boundary.Fayyaz Ahmed hit three of the crispest boundaries in the innings,including a skilful square-drive through the hands of point, but acalamitous mix-up ended his frolics on 19 when Dewald Nel – below hisbest with the ball – left him short of his ground. The rest of thetail folded without so much as a whimper, losing with more than 10overs to spare.Excellent in the field, it was Scotland’s batting – such adisappointment in the last three weeks – which finally fired to putthem in the box seat. It was a conundrum, though, combining boththoughtlessness and aggression in a Jekyll-and-Hyde performance splitalmost evenly by 25 overs. On a flat pitch offering only a hint ofswing with the new ball, their openers, Hamilton and Navdeep Poonia,crawled and nudged nervously, too aware of the pressure on theirshoulders. UAE’s opening bowlers were reasonably accurate to beginwith but nevertheless offered several gifts, none of which were takenadvantage of. With Poonia retiring hurt after top-edging into hisforehead – a nasty blow that required stitches – Scotland took 13overs to reach their fifty. Their hundred came up in the 25th and,with twenty overs remaining, had reached an unconvincing 128. UAE’sspinners were controlled and bowled an excellent length, but where wasScotland’s inventiveness?Well, it took a while to arrive, but eventually Hamilton opened hisshoulders to loft Amjad over midwicket before uppercutting himbeautifully over the slips. With McCullum for company, the pair put on121 off 123 as Hamilton’s hundred – celebrated with a subdued raise ofthe bat and nothing more – came up from 110 balls. UAE’s brittleconfidence snapped in two; the blistering last 20 overs yielded 171runs, the sort of match-defining partnership which Scotland havefailed to produce in this tournament.As a nervous changing room waited for news of the other matches, newsfinally came through that Scotland had snuck into fifth place and,crucially, retained their ODI status by the skin of their teeth. “Weobviously had our eyes set on a high-placed finish, and obviouslythings didn’t go to plan at various times and we just lackedconsistency really,” their coach, Pete Steindl, told Cricinfo. “All inall, today, the way we played, I’m much happier and it was a goodperformance and it’s nice to get in there in the top 6.”The man most under pressure is the captain, Ryan Watson, who againfailed with the bat today, with a former player, Paul Hoffmann, calling for hisresignation. Steindl, however, was right behind his skipper andrejected calls for widespread changes to the squad. “You’ve got totake stock, reflect on what happened any time you get into asituation, and there’s a momentary loss of form,” he said. “Ryan inparticular has worked hard but had a poor tournament, but he’s stillcontributed as a batsman and bowler. It’s the way it is. He has mysupport. It’s not helpful when former players add in little comments,if indeed that was what was said.”