Scotland suffered a seven-wicket defeat to Canada in their opening Cricket World Cup League 2 encounter.

The Scots posted a total of 215 for eight before their opponents hit their target inside 41 overs as Andy Umeed was caught at the wicket for just eight runs on his one-day-international debut. Fellow opener George Munsey was Scotland’s most successful batter with a total of 68, while Michael Leask (40) and Matthew Cross (30) also had some joy, the latter pair adding 50 together from 53 deliveries.

Canada’s Aaron Johnson (43) broke the back of the run chase, striking a six off the final ball of Safyaan Sharif’s over and when Mark Watt was introduced in the seventh over, he would send his first two deliveries over the ropes. Watt would gain his revenge in the following over, catching out Johnson with a delivery from behind the stumps and trapping him LBW for 43 from just 28 deliveries. Srimantha Wijeyeratne (56) and Pargat Singh (87 not out) both hit half-centuries for Canada as they posted 220 for three. Sharif and Bradley Currie both failed to take any wickets for Scotland in their combined total of 14 overs with Scott Currie, Mark Watt and Chris Greaves all taking one apiece.

Scotland now face hosts United Arab Emirates on Sunday and interim head coach Stevie Gilmour said: “It’s obviously not the start we wanted to CWCL2, but as we’ve just discussed as a group, it’s now all about how we respond to this defeat ahead of the next match. We weren’t quite able to establish enough partnerships with the bat, or apply enough pressure with the ball, so there are plenty of things we need to work on ahead of Sunday. We’ll take everything that we can out of today’s game, as there were positives, but we need to learn quickly for the game with UAE and given it’s only 36 hours away, we’re looking forward to it already.”

Scotland suffer seven-wicket loss to Canada in Cricket World Cup League 2 opener