SCOTLAND's batting woes continued yesterday as a marvellous chance to build on last week's famous win against Lancashire was squandered at a grey Citylets Grange.
Following a fine display in the field, the Saltires found themselves requiring a modest 182 for victory, only to fall dismally short.
In their defence, conditions on a cold, overcast day always favoured ball over bat and Durham did have Steve Ha
rmison in their ranks. Sadly, though, the Scots succumbed with barely a whimper as a familiar collapse left them hopelessly adrift on 52 for five when bad light stopped play.
Saltires skipper Ryan Watson was left to bemoan a missed opportunity, saying: "We had a chance to capitalise on winning the toss and it's very frustrating that we failed to take it.
"Durham's batting isn't the worst in the world and we did well to keep them quiet. But we know we have to work on our batting and the worrying thing is that there were a couple of soft dismissals as well as a couple where the wicket did a bit.
"But we've got to keep our eye on the bigger picture and remember what we are building towards. The most important games of the season come in July and August."
Watson added: "The plus is that we were able to bring in a couple of younger guys in Sean Weeraratna and Gordon Goudie and they did extremely well."
It was Ed Cowan, the Australian professional, who was first to go when he fenced outside off and presented the simplest of slip catches to Gordon Muchall.
Skipper Watson appeared set to take the attack to the opposition, twice hitting Harmison's brother Ben for four before being trapped in front by the same bowler for 14.
Colin Smith perished in similar fashion to Callum Thorp while Fraser Watts holed out to mid-off to leave the Saltires looking like they were in desperate trouble on 45 for four. Neil McCallum was then done for pace by Steve Harmison, edging to Muchall at third slip as the procession continued.
There appeared no way back and it was something of an act of mercy for the home players when the umpires, having seen Gavin Hamilton struck on the helmet by Thorp, deemed the light too dangerous and brought the players off after 17.1 overs with the Saltires 46 runs short of the Duckworth/Lewis par score.
Optimism had been in the air earlier as all the Scottish bowlers emerged with credit after Watson took advantage of a rare toss win to insert the opposition in tricky conditions.
Scotland had received a setback before the start when Gordon Drummond and Craig Wright, two of the stars of last Monday's win at Old Trafford, were forced to sit out through injury. However, this opened the door for Goudie and Weeraratna – two of the younger generation of seam bowlers – to enter the fray.
Both rose to the challenge, keeping things extremely tight after an impressive opening burst from John Blain and Dewald Nel. The latter, man-of-the-match against Lancashire, made the breakthrough when he had England player Phil Mustard brilliantly caught by Cowan at backward point.
Blain, though, looked the more menacing, regularly beating the bat and inducing a series of false shots from Australian left-hander Michael di Venuto
who rode his luck with a slash outside off-stump, the ball soaring over Watson at second slip on its way to the third man boundary.
Mustard's removal had brought Kyle Coetzer to the crease but the Aberdeen-born batsman failed to trouble his countrymen for long, having made just seven before Blain found the outside edge of his bat and Watson took the catch.
Di Venuto was beginning to look dangerous, having hit three boundaries on his way to 26, when a dreadful mix-up with Neil McKenzie presented the Saltires with a bonus wicket in the form of a run out.
McKenzie and Ben Harmison dug in but they found Weeraratna and Goudie staking their claims for regular Saltires inclusion with some truly miserly bowling. Goudie in particular hit a splendid groove, conceding just 15 runs in his initial eight-over spell.
The arrival of Glenn Rogers into the attack brought a quickening of the tempo with McKenzie hoisting the Australian left-armer over long-on for six only to be deceived in the flight off the next delivery as Rogers gained his revenge.
Muchall also chanced his arm against Rogers with one straight clearance but again the Saltires spinner had the final say as Watts took a safe catch in the covers to reduce the county to 110 for five.
Blain's return to the attack brought a double success for the Scots with Harmison edging one and Gary Park outfoxed by a slower delivery which also ended up in Smith's gloves.
Weeraratna claimed a deserved wicket when Thorp skied a catch into the safe hands of Rogers before Steve Harmison picked out Cowan on the long-on boundary to give Nel his second wicket.
Gareth Breese offered some late resistance with an unbeaten 25 but at 181 for nine the Saltires could be content with their work. Or so they thought.
And so it is back to the drawing board with July and August in mind.
The full article contains 893 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
