Scotland tourists fall short in first UAE warm-up

PETE Steindl wants his new-look Saltires to discover a ruthless streak after they threw away the chance to make a winning start to their tour of the desert.

The Scots put themselves in pole position against UAE Blues after ex-Warwickshire star Neil Carter made an excellent start to his cap career. South African-born all-rounder Carter blitzed the Blues top order with a three-wicket burst in his opening spell.

The 38 year-old went on to claim a fourth wicket while Yorkshire’s Iain Wardlaw – another of five recruits from county cricket – weighed in with two scalps of hs own.

But the Scots allowed the hosts to recover from 40-4 to post 209-8 and Carter failed to repeat his bowling heroics with the bat as both he and Calum Macleod went cheaply.

A half-century from Kyle Coetzer and 48 from Preston Mommsen put the Saltires on course before a flurry of late wickets saw them fall seven runs short.

Coach Steindl, whose side have a revenge chance against the Blues tomorrow, said: “Today certainly highlighted the areas we need to improve on.

“We got ourselves into good positions but failed to press home the advantage but we won’t read too much into today’s result.

“This match was all about getting some competitive action early in the tour and it proved a useful exercise.

“There were some solid performances and some good points to take from the game.”

Steindl’s men have two more warm-up matches before facing Afghanistan in three formats of the game – including two crucial World Cup qualifiers.