Kenya put Saltires to the sword once again

SCOTLAND were brought crashing back to earth yesterday as their World Cup preparations came off the rails in spectacular style.

The Saltires went into their revenge mission against Kenya on a high after a record-breaking show against Uganda on Wednesday. However, three of their batsmen scored ducks as they suffered a second humiliating ten-wicket reverse to the Kenyans in the space of three days. Another three were run out in a worryingly sub-standard display at a sweltering Gymkhana Ground, Nairobi.

The Saltires now head to the UAE for one final warm-up match – also against Kenya – before next week's T20 World Cup qualifiers. They have managed two victories against Uganda during this tri-series but the heavy losses to Kenya – potential semi-final opponents in the qualifiers – are of much more relevance.

Coach Pete Steindl, acknowledging that his team were outplayed: admitted: "There is no doubt that Kenya now have a psychological edge over us. They are playing with confidence and are executing game plans much better than we have been able to do. We knew they would come at us hard and put us under pressure with the ball and the bat but we just didn't meet the challenge. We had one good partnership between Jan (Stander] and Gavin (Hamilton] but we have to look to every individual to take responsibility. It simply wasn't good enough today."

Batting first, the Scots slumped to 38 for 5 with Fraser Watts, who hit a T20 high of 73 only 24 hours earlier, bowled for a duck.

Kyle Coetzer, Ryan Watson, Neil McCallum and Richie Berrington all went cheaply before Gavin Hamilton and Jan Stander salvaged some pride with a stand of 65 for the sixth wicket. The skipper made his highest Twenty20 score of 28 while Stander went on to top-score, bludgeoning three sixes in his 39-ball 45. However, Nehemiah Odhiambo kept Kenya in control with career-best figures of 5 for 20 as a further flurry of wickets saw the Scots fold for 123 with four deliveries of their allocation remaining.

In reply David Obuya and Steve Tikolo produced a near carbon-copy of Monday's easy run chase, reaching their target with 33 balls to spare. Obuya led the way with 65 not out with seven fours and two sixes, while Tikolo was almost as punishing in his unbeaten 56.