Bangladesh game washed away by rain in Glasgow

SCOTLAND were denied the opportunity to pit themselves against a Test-playing nation yesterday as their one-day international against Bangladesh fell victim to the weather.

Scotland had put together a strong squad, including former skipper Gavin Hamilton, Durham batsman Kyle Coetzer and Middlesex prospect Josh Davey.

But constant heavy rain ensured there was no play at Citylets Titwood ground in Glasgow and the game was abandoned around 2pm.

Bangladesh are due to meet Holland at the same venue today but that match also looks in doubt.

Scotland's shadow squad, meanwhile, finished their European Division One campaign on a flat note when the Irish jinx struck again.

Just a week after Ireland triumphed in the World Cricket League final against the Scots in the Netherlands, they kept up the momentum in Jersey to finish runners up to the islanders.

Ewan Chalmers struck 61 as Scotland A reached 235 for nine. And a century by Reinhardt Strydom propelled the Irishmen to success by six wickets with more than two overs to spare.

Strydom hit 108 from 122 balls before being pouched by wicketkeeper Marc Petrie off Willie Rowan.

Elsewhere, England captain Andrew Strauss has backed misfiring Kevin Pietersen to shake off his recent run of bad form as his side prepare to face Pakistan in a four-Test series ahead of the Ashes this winter.

The England captain is unconcerned that Pietersen, who recently became a father for the first time, has failed to score more than 50 runs in his last 17 one-day internationals for his country.

The South Africa-born batsman's last big one-day score was an unbeaten 111 against India in November 2008 but Strauss is fully confident that Pietersen will bounce back - starting against Pakistan.

"Kevin has just turned 30 but he has got a lot of cricket left in him," said Strauss. "He has had a tough time, there's no doubt about it."

"He has not scored as many runs as he has done in the past. But he is a high-quality cricketer and he will come back and play match-winning innings for us. He has had a bit of a break and that has been well received.

"Kevin wants to be a great cricketer and he knows the way to do that is by scoring runs consistently and putting in match-winning performances and I have no worries that he will do that."

Strauss is clearly backing him to return to form in their series against a Pakistan side which has already had to appoint a new captain following the retirement from the Test arena of Shahid Afridi after just one match at the helm.