Cricket: Scots humble Canadians

However, their celebrations following this rain-interrupted match were tempered by the news that Gregor Maiden will miss the remainder of the tournament.

The Grange batsman sustained a fractured thumb when he was struck by pace bowler Calvert Hooper early in his innings and remarkably batted through the pain for almost half-an-hour.

Maiden, who went from 10 to 30 with the break, said: "I knew there was something wrong right away but I thought I would carry on and see if it eased. Maybe that was foolhardy because it just got worse and I wasn't able to time the ball.

"That's definitely my tournament over but these things happen in cricket."

Maiden is the second spinner the Scots have had the misfortune to lose following Majid Haq's withdrawal prior to the tournament.

His injury took the gloss off a sparkling 124-run partnership between Richie Berrington and Neil McCallum as Scotland eventually completed victory by 69 runs at the VRA Ground.

Chasing Scotland's 236-4, the Canadians were 79-6, 80 behind the par score, when rain forced the players from the field late in the afternoon. When a late resumption was made, the Canadians were asked to score an impossible 116 further runs from just five overs.

In the event, they added 47 while losing a further three wickets.

Gordon Goudie did the bulk of the early damage with three wickets including opener Hiral Patel who was brilliantly caught by Preston Mommsen, diving at second slip.

Patel had looked capable of troubling the Scots with an aggressive 37 from only 32 balls but he was the only batsman to offer serious resistance. Gordon Drummond's decision to bat first and get runs on the board looked questionable when the Scots slumped to 81-3 in 26 overs though his plan to take advantage of a deteriorating pitch later in the day proved spot on.

Ollie Hairs was first to go when Hooper, from St Vincent and the Grenadines, produced some traditional West Indian pace to york the Grange youngster.

Mommsen, having become bogged down after facing 58 balls for his 19, perished in the bid to increase the scoring rate, miscuing Umair Bhatti to be caught by Hooper.

Maiden's 30 was heroic in the circumstances before he holed out at mid-on to Bhatti prior to heading to an Amsterdam hospital.

Even Berrington and McCallum initially struggled to cope with the slow wicket and the tight bowling of Bhatti and Rizwan Cheehan in particular.

However, Scotland's most experienced batsmen were merely biding their time.

Boundaries, at a premium earlier, suddenly started to flow with Berrington moving smoothly to his seventh half-century of a run-filled summer.

The Greenock player was eventually bowled by Cheema for 67, having faced 91 balls and stroked three boundaries and two sixes.

Grange star McCallum, though, was even more punishing on a tiring Canadian attack.

The pair added 94 in the final ten overs, McCallum top-scoring with an unbeaten 89, including seven fours and four sixes, from only 78 deliveries. This was another impressive display from a team developing nicely under Drummond's leadership, though the Scotland selectors will now have to consider the make-up of the team following the loss of Maiden.

The Scots continue their campaign against tournament favourites Ireland tomorrow.

His injury took the gloss off a sparkling 124-run partnership between Richie Berrington and Neil McCallum as Scotland headed towards a D/L victory in a rain-affected match at the VRA Ground in Amstelveen.

Chasing Scotland's 236-4, the Canadians were 87-6, 80 behind the par score, when rain forced the players from the field late in the afternoon with further play looking unlikely.

Gordon Goudie did the bulk of the damage with three wickets including opener Hiral Patel who was brilliantly caught by Preston Mommsen, diving at second slip.

Patel had looked capable of troubling the Scots with an aggressive 37 from only 32 balls but he was the only batsman to offer serious resistance to a Scottish attack with their tails up.

Gordon Drummond's decision to bat first and get runs on the board looked questionable when the Scots slumped to 81-3 in 26 overs, though his plan to take advantage of a deteriorating pitch later in the day proved spot on.

Ollie Hairs was first to go when Hooper, from St Vincent and the Grenadines, produced some traditional West Indian pace to york the Grange youngster.

Mommsen, having become bogged down after facing 58 balls for his 19, perished in the bid to increase the scoring rate, miscuing Umair Bhatti to be caught by Hooper at third man.

Maiden's 30 was heroic in the circumstances before he holed out at mid-on to give Bhatti a second wicket prior to heading to an Amsterdam hospital.

Even Berrington and McCallum initially struggled to cope with the slow wicket and the tight bowling of Bhatti and Rizwan Cheehan in particular.

However, Scotland's most experienced batsmen were merely biding their time before accelerating impressively.

Boundaries, at a premium earlier, suddenly started to flow, with Berrington moving smoothly to his seventh half-century of a run-filled summer.

The Greenock player was eventually bowled by Cheema for 67, having faced 91 balls and stroked three boundaries and two sixes.

Grange star McCallum, though, was even more punishing on a tiring Canadian attack.

He gave a hint of things to come with a beautifully timed drive to the extra cover boundary off Desai and followed-up with a trademark sweep off left-arm spinner Sunil Dhaniram.

McCallum then went aerial, hoisting Cheema majestically over deep mid-wicket and massively over long-off and long-on as Scotland made the most of their batting power-play.

They added 94 in the final ten overs, McCallum top-scoring with an unbeaten 89, including seven fours and four sixes, from only 78 balls.

This was another impressive display from a team which is developing nicely under Drummond's leadership, though the selectors will now have to consider the make-up of the team following the loss of Maiden who has filled the key No.3 batting slot as well as offering useful overs of off-spin.

The Scots continue their campaign against tournament favourites Ireland tomorrow.