ICC Intercontinental Cup and Shield

CANADA v SCOTLAND Scotland’s players had less than one day to adjust to the conditions of Toronto after their departure from Bermuda was delayed by hurricane Bertha, which caused the airport in Hamilton to close. The hosts offered to delay the start by 24 hours but this was declined because of Scotland’s tight schedule; many of the players were due to appear in the European Championships in Belfast the following week. Fortunately, Scotland won the toss and were able to bat first on a flat pitch against a rather weak Canadian side, with many of their players unavailable through injury or work commitments. Fraser Watts and Douglas Lockhart began patiently but, after 21 runs had been scored, the Scottish captain played no shot against a ball from Eion Katchay, which came back off the seam to have him leg-before. Lockhart and Qasim Sheikh settled in but found run-scoring difficult, particularly either side of the luncheon interval. Qaiser Ali bowled a spell of five overs for no runs and Sheikh was dropped by Rustam Bhatti after edging a ball from Katchay down the leg side. This was the only chance offered, however, as the partnership blossomed through the afternoon session and Canada tried eight bowlers without success. Lockhart reached his half-century after batting for 177 minutes and Sheikh his after a stay of 148 minutes. At tea the score was 168 for one off 64 overs. The evening session saw Sheikh depart for 92, trying to turn a ball from Sami Faridi, who bowled mainly ‘chinamen’ and was generally expensive, down the leg side, only to get a very fine edge which was well-taken by the wicketkeeper. Sheikh had made his runs at a strike rate of 47.4 and the partnership had been worth 173. Richard Berrington was the third wicket to fall before the end of the day, by which time Neil McCallum was entrenched with Lockhart. At the close Scotland were 286 for three, with Lockhart on 126 made off 270 balls. Earlier his century had come off 211 balls after batting for 285 minutes. The not-out batsmen looked solid but scored slowly for the first ten overs of the second day. McCallum then left a ball from Sunil Dhaniram pitched outside his off stump, only to see it break back sharply and hit the wicket. This ball signalled a difference in the behaviour of the pitch from the first day; it was increasingly taking spin. Omer Hussain fell quickly to a poor shot, trying to drive a ball well wide of off stump and giving an easy catch to the wicketkeeper. Majid Haq added 48 runs with Lockhart, who was lucky to reach his 150 when Haq called him for a suicidal second run. The Canadians muffed the simple run-out chance and Lockhart got the single he required. Possibly this misjudgement upset Haq because almost immediately he left a ball from Faridi and was bowled. Canada’s spinners took the last five Scottish wickets for 15 runs in six overs, Lockhart ending his vigil with a tame shot back to the bowler to give Dhaniram his fourth wicket of the morning. In reply Canada’s batsmen lacked the discipline that Scotland had shown. First ball of the innings, Abdul Jabbar played across the line to Dewald Nel, missed and was leg-before. Sandeep Jyoti lofted Gordon Goudie into the hands of Sheikh and Bhatti edged Nel to Goudie in the slips. The forced retirement of Goudie from the attack through a back injury gave no respite because Nel removed Kandappah and Samad. The left-arm spin of Ross Lyons accounted for the tail and Canada were all out in the 39th over. Asked to follow on, they started only slightly better, Abdul Jabbar lasting three balls instead of one before he was tempted by a wide ball and edged it to the wicketkeeper. Jyoti and Bhatti put on 30 runs but just as they were looking confident, Bhatti missed a straight ball from Gordon Drummond. The day ended with Canada 259 runs behind, with eight wickets in hand and two days to play. Nel took two quick wickets on the third morning to leave Canada in serious trouble, although he needed a little luck to get the first, as Lockhart failed to hold on to a chance from Qaiser Ali but managed to push it towards McCallum at second slip. After Kandappah became another victim, trying to drive a wide ball outside off stump, Abdool Samad and Jyoti added 39 runs. Samad played and missed at a ball from Lyons and was stumped. Jyoti was the seventh wicket to fall, having lasted 132 balls but only managing a strike rate of 32.5. Saad bin Zafar and Faridi delayed the inevitable in a partnership of 21 runs from 75 balls for the ninth wicket, which meant that Canada were able to take the match beyond the lunch break. Soon after, however, the innings ended for 130 to give Scotland an easy innings victory. Nel and Lyons both achieved seven-wicket match hauls, a reward for some excellent penetrative bowling but the Man-of-the-Match award went to Douglas Lockhart for a patient, well-controlled batting display and some competent wicketkeeping, having been called into service again behind the stumps following an injury to Colin Smith. 158 ICC Intercontinental Cup 2007-08