Scots slip to another loss

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Scotland lost to Afghanistan for the second time in three days as their ICC World Cricket League Championship qualifying campaign suffered another blow at Sharjah.

Afghanistan recorded a five-wicket victory with eight balls in hand to move level on points with Scotland in the race to land an automatic spot at the 2015 World Cup.

After crashing to a seven-wicket loss to the same opponent on Wednesday, Scotland, put in by their hosts, must have sensed a case of déjà vu when opener Calum MacLeod was sent back without scoring.

Kyle Coetzer scored 133 to underpin Scotland's total of 259 for nine, yet Afghanistan chased it down with eight balls to spare

However, Kyle Coetzer smashed a career-best 133 - sharing a second-wicket stand of 134 with Josh Davey, who hit 64 - to underpin Scotland’s 259 for nine.

Afghanistan made an encouraging start in their reply and were up to 63 before Mohammad Shahzad fell for 48, which came off just 34 deliveries and included five fours and three sixes.

And while only captain Mohammad Nabi reached a half-century, all seven Afghanistan batsmen scored at least 21 with Samiullah Shenwari and Gulbodin Naib seeing them home.

This was Scotland’s 10th game of their qualifying campaign and, although they currently occupy second place in the table, both the Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates could leapfrog them in their next two contests.

Netherlands face Namibia while the UAE meet Ireland with Scotland hoping to remain inside the top two, a berth which would ensure their automatic qualification for the World Cup, going into their final four fixtures of the campaign.