Scotland claim first tour win

Scotland avoided their third defeat in a row when they beat a Barbados XI by four wickets at the 3Ws Oval on Thursday. Barbados fielded seven regular players including Floyd Reifer, who has enjoyed several professional seasons in Scotland and has played for the Saltires. Jason Haynes, the Barbados captain, won the toss and decided to bat on a hot and sunny morning.

Dougie Brown, the Warwickshire allrounder, was soon among the wickets, sending the two openers back for 31 and paving the way for Reifer. He batted steadily against some lively bowling from John Blain, Paul Hoffman and in particular Dewald Nel, who helped himself to four wickets - three of them lbw, including two in two balls.

The introduction of spin continued to cause problems for Barbados, and the 21-year-old Ross Lyons had the satisfaction of bowling Reifer immediately after being hit for six. Barbados were bowled out for 146 in 32 overs, of which Reifer had scored 59.

Scotland had to endure a tricky nine-over period before lunch, in which they lost Gavin Hamilton (7) and Kyle Coetzer (5), for only 29 runs. Fraser Watts then fell to the second ball after the interval for two and, at 26 for 3, Scotland's batsmen were struggling to assert themselves. However, Brown and Ryan Watson steadied the ship with a half-century partnership from 99 balls in 61 minutes, going on to add 73 together.

At 99 for 3, Martin Nurse returned to the attack and proceeded to bowl four wides before taking the wickets of Watson (30), Dougie Lockhart (4) and Darren Spink (0) off the remainder of his over. Blain (22*) then joined Dougie Brown (54*) and steered the side home with an enterprising stand of 45 and more than 10 overs to spare. This was a good solid performance with two of the youngsters in the team showing calmness beyond their years.