Scotland fall to New Zealand

Ross Taylor ensured that New Zealand did not slip up

Scotland’s hopes of a place on the official one-day international rankings were dashed as New Zealand cruised to an easy eight-wicket win at Mannofield in Aberdeen.

The Scots, seeking a first win against Test playing opposition, went into the clash in high spirits after a comprehensive win against Ireland yesterday but the Black Caps’ performance demonstrated the gulf between the leading countries and those from the second tier.

New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori won the toss and gave his bowlers first use of helpful conditions and they responded by skittling Scotland for 101.

Ross Taylor then led the way with the bat, scoring 61 not out off 41 balls as the tourists won with 35.2 overs remaining.

With the ball moving both off the seam and in the humid atmosphere early on an already tough task was made much more difficult for the Scottish batsmen.

Skipper Ryan Watson’s miserable form continued when he was bowled in the first over by Mark Gillespie for his second duck in as many days.

Gillespie removed Gavin Hamilton in similar fashion to reduce the Scots to 12 for two before Navdeep Poonia and Colin Smith both gloved catches to Brendon McCullum off Jacob Oram.

Qasim Sheikh, having taken 21 deliveries to get off the mark, offered home supporters some cheer with three boundaries in his 18.

But when the young Clydesdale batsman chopped Grant Elliott’s slower delivery onto his stumps the procession continued.

Only a breezy unbeaten 17 from Gordon Goudie pushed Scotland’s total into three figures, the former Middlesex youngster hoisting Vettori to long-on for the only six of the innings.

John Blain took the wicket of Peter Fulton with his fourth ball

However, Scotland’s total of 101 was hopelessly inadequate even when John Blain trapped Peter Fulton in front with the fourth delivery of the New Zealand reply.

Dewald Nel also enjoyed some success when he had the big-hitting McCullum caught at mid-on for 22.

However, Taylor produced the necessary fireworks to propel the Black Caps to an eight-wicket win inside 15 overs.

Taylor hammered three massive sixes and seven fours in a 34-ball half-century and went on to finish unbeaten on 61.

Watson said: “When you play sides like New Zealand you need a bit of luck but everything went against us and the gulf between the teams got wider and wider.

“I don’t think we played poor shots but were genuinely bowled out by a side who knew how to take advantage of the conditions.

“It’s really frustrating to suffer a result like this in such a high-profile game because we wanted to show our improvement and I genuinely believe we could have got 200-220 if conditions had been in our favour.”

Instead, much of the Scotland innings was played in steady rain, and Watson added: “I think we should have come off because conditions were really tough.

“It’s a hard call and I don’t want to criticise the umpires too much because they’ve done a great job over the last two days but I’d have come off.”

Vettori admitted: “The toss played a big part because it was always going to be difficult to bat.

“I had no hesitation in bowling first because the only way we could have slipped up would be to have batted and lost some early wickets.

“We wanted to be ruthless and it’s pleasing to end the tour with a good win.”