Scotland come up short as superb White strikes

A DEVASTATING display of bowling from Nottinghamshire's Graeme White consigned the Saltires to their second Clydesdale Bank 40 defeat in as many days yesterday – but only after a defiant knock of 54 from Richie Berrington had briefly suggested a remarkable turnaround in the home side's fortunes.

• Wicket keeper Chris Read (right) cant catch Scottish Saltire Gavin Hamilton Pic SNS

Chasing an Outlaws total of 256 after Notts had won the toss and elected to bat, the Scots were eventually all out for 213 in the 36th over.

Saltires skipper Gavin Hamilton and Ryan Watson made a promising beginning, but the fall of the captain's wicket after a stand of 83 signalled the start of an unstoppable onslaught by the Notts bowler. Having caught and bowled Hamilton after luring the captain into a mis-hit which soared skywards, White went on to take the wickets of George Bailey and Watson by the same method.

In between those two White clean-bowled debutant Freddie Coleman, and ended his first spell with impressive figures of 4 for 22. His final figures of five wickets for 35 were the best of his career.

For a while that opening burst looked as if it had broken the back of the Saltires' innings, but Berrington showed some commendable resistance, and with some sterner support might even have brought off an inspiring recovery. In the end, though, none of the lower-order batsmen could stay with him long enough to unsettle the Outlaws.

After the euphoria of their opening-day win over Leicestershire, this result and Saturday's nine-wicket defeat by Kent Spitfires have provided a more realistic picture of the state of the Saltires squad. The performance against Notts at least had some more positive aspects to it, notably the more expansive innings from Hamilton and, earlier, some encouraging bowling from Ross Lyons.

The latter and Coleman were brought into the team yesterday to replace Omer Hussain and Neil Laidlaw, and it was a particularly tough introduction to this level of the game for Coleman. The Strathallan schoolboy lasted all of three balls before falling to White, and after that only Berrington stood between the Saltires and a rapid conclusion to their afternoon.

Coming in after the dismissal of Watson, Neil McCallum managed 19 before being caught by Alex Hales off the bowling of Steve Mullaney. Majid Haq could only add a couple, wicketkeeper Marc Petrie got 6 and Gordon Drummond could do no better than a single.

After Gordon Goudie added 11, Lyons came in, and was still there when the fall of Berrington's wicket brought an end to the afternoon. Chris Read stumped him, fittingly off the bowling of White.

Saltires coach Peter Steindl and his squad will have little time to recover from the rigours of this weekend, as another double-header awaits, this time on the road. They face Hampshire at the Rose Bowl on Sunday, then the following day move on to Canterbury for the return fixture against the Spitfires.

The scale of the task facing the Saltires yesterday had been obvious from the first overs of the Outlaws' innings. Gordon Drummond bowled a solid first over, and his namesake Goudie had a strong appeal for lbw against Neil Edwards in the second, but otherwise it was a strong start from Notts.

Alex Hales was in particularly ominous form, notching up a clutch of boundaries with apparent ease. The openers had reached 40 after six overs, Hales getting to his quarter-century almost at will.

In the seventh a brilliant diving catch from Berrington off the bowling of Drummond dismissed Edwards for 11, but that only cleared the way for the far more dangerous Matthew Wood to come to the wicket. The No3 bat slammed Ross Lyons for a massive six at the end of his first over, and helped Hales claim his half-century from only 31 balls.

With a dark cloud looming overhead, the first of what threatened to be a series of interruptions for rain occurred in the 14th over with Notts on 85 for 1. But the shower was easing off almost by the time the covers had come on, and although spots of rain returned within the next half-hour, the afternoon brightened considerably thereafter.

The same could not be said of the Saltires' prospects as Hales and Wood motored on, reaching 100 in the 16th over. The partnership only added another ten runs, however, before Hales was out for 69, caught by Neil McCallum on the boundary after a clever delivery by Lyons had seduced him into hitting out.

Samit Patel came in to steady the ship, and Notts sailed on serenely towards the 200 mark, with the Scots proving powerless to prevent their progress. Then, just as the visitors' total was edging up dauntingly, Goudie introduced a glimmer of optimism by taking two wickets in five balls in the 32nd over.

Wood was the first to go, clean bowled for 60. Ali Brown came in with his team on 199, and he had only added four to that tally by the time he was slouching back to the pavilion after being caught by Lyons.

In the closing overs of the Outlaws' allotted 40 Patel was out for 61 and Steven Mullaney went for 23, but captain Chris Read ended up not out after a useful knock of 22. While tighter fielding had cut down the total to a score or so short of what it had looked to be heading for, it turned out to be still some way beyond the Saltires' grasp.