Blain cameo edges Scotland home
Cricinfo staff
January 23, 2007
Scotland 209 for 8 (Blain 30*, Rogers 4*, Dhaniram 2-24) beat Canada 208 (Dhaniram 46, Wright 4-29) by 2 wickets
Scorecard
A bristling cameo of 30 from John Blain squeezed Scotland past Canada by two wickets in the fifth match of the Tri Series, following a flurry of middle-order wickets in a tense encounter at Mombasa.
At 120 for 3, seeking 209 for their second win of the tournament, Scotland were well placed with Ryan Watson batting calmly and sensibly. But, on 39, he edged Kevin Sandher to Anderson Cummins in the slips to open a gap for Canada's bowlers. However, Gavin Hamilton refused to be contained. Nudging singles and cutting the odd four past point, he threatened to take the game away from Canada.
At the other end Neil McCullum was taking the attack to Canada, twice pulling fours over midwicket, before becoming Cummins's second first-class wicket in over a decade when he chipped one straight back to the bowler. The slide had begun: from 157 for 4 Scotland slithered to 163 for 7 when Hamilton was caught by John Davison off Sunil Dhaniram, Canada's batting saviour earlier in the day.
Craig Wright, the Scotland captain, departed for 14 - lbw to Cummins - leaving Scotland the tricky target of 22 from 32 with just two wickets remaining. Their tail wagged with impressive vigour, though, with Blain smiting a huge six off Henry Osinde, losing the ball in the process, followed by a commanding pull over square leg to edge Scotland's noses in front.
Scotland's lower-order fight back wasn't dissimilar to Canada's. Reduced to 120 for 6, they were indebted to a feisty seventh-wicket partnership of 70 between Dhaniram and Don Maxwell, the latter smacking two sixes and a couple of fours in his 29. And though Dhaniram batted cleverly to nurture his tail past 200, Canada hadn't counted on the long levers of Blain who swung lustfully for victory.
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