Bears maul sorry Scots
New captain Gavin Hamilton was unable to lift Scotland out of the doldrums as Warwickshire cantered to their first victory of the season in the Friends Provident Trophy at Edgbaston.
The county side dismissed the Scots for 182 – despite Hamilton’s lead-off innings of 51 from 77 balls – and reached their target with 19.2 overs to spare after a rampaging performance by Neil Carter.
Resuming after a calf injury in the first week of the season, the all-rounder smashed 65 from only 38 balls in his systematic destruction of a limited attack.
Carter dominated an opening partnership of 88 with Jonathan Trott before medium-pacer Sean Weeraratna lifted Scottish spirits with wickets in successive overs.
Trott went for 33, cutting to point, and Carter was looking to add to his boundary blitz – eight fours and four sixes – when Neil McCallum scooped up an awkward chance at deep cover.
Ian Bell then put the finishing touches to a seven-wicket win with an unbeaten 51 from 54 balls on his return from England Lions duty against West Indies at Derby.
Scottish cricket is at a crossroads after the failure to qualify for the 2011 World Cup in last month’s ICC tournament in South Africa.
Gavin Hamilton struck 51 in his first match since taking over the captaincy but could not prevent a seven-wicket defeat
When Ryan Watson stepped down as captain last week, 34-year-old Hamilton was given the task of leading the team through a transitional phase.
In his first match in charge, he turned the clock back a decade to a previous half-century at Edgbaston when he was a Yorkshire all-rounder building up to his only Test appearance for England in South Africa in 1999.
But a successful return to Birmingham was nowhere near enough to stave off Scotland’s second defeat in this season’s 50-over competition.
Beaten by 162 runs in a Lord’s opener against Middlesex, they were marginally more competitive with the bat as Australian Cameron Borgas backed up Hamilton by making 59 on his debut as the overseas professional.
At 141 for five with 10 overs remaining, Scotland should have been on for a 200-plus total, but with Borgas caught at midwicket after hitting four fours and a six, there were still nine balls to be bowled when Ian Westwood ran out last man Dewald Nel.
Left-arm seamer Keith Barker profited from Borgas’ misplaced pull – which was held by Warwickshire’s Scottish substitute, Calum Macleod - and Rikki Clarke picked up two wickets as the innings petered out.
Even without several bowlers, including Darren Maddy, who is to miss the rest of the season with a cruciate knee ligament injury, Warwickshire had too much firepower.
Boyd Rankin continued to cement his place with a sustained opening spell of 2-20 and New Zealand off-spinner Jeetan Patel put in a tidy performance with one for 21 in a delayed debut for the county.
Patel comfortably took a return catch to remove Hamilton after the left-hander had cracked eight fours from 77 balls.
