Scotland has set itself up well on day one of the ICC Intercontinental Cup match against Canada at King City , Ontario , reaching stumps at 286-3.
It was not necessarily the most free-scoring of days but a 173-run partnership between Dougie Lockhart and Qasim Sheikh has really put the home side under pressure and th
e Canada players will know they will have to produce something special to turn it around.Having dismissed captain and in-form batsman Fraser Watts for just 10, Canada would have felt it had a real chance but Lockhart and Qasim set about making sure that didn’t happen. Qasim eventually fell just eight runs short of would have been his maiden first-class century but Lockhart went on to reach three figures and ended the day unbeaten on 126.
It is the 32-year-old’s first century in first-class cricket and he now has a great chance to push on and make it a really big one.
Although Ritchie Berrington fell reasonably cheaply, Neil McCallum hung around with Lockhart and finished the day on 30 not out.
The Canadian bowling was tight with Eion Katchay bowling 22 overs for just 42 runs while also picking up the wicket of Watts . He was well supported by Shakir Mohammed and Sunil Dhaniram but the Scotland top order remained resolute in the face of their onslaught.
Day two promises to be a painful one for Canada unless it can take early wickets. With Lockhart and McCallum at the crease and with the likes of Omar Hussain, Majid Haq and George Drummond still to come, a big total could be on the cards for the away team.
ICC Intercontinental Cup (day one)
At King City , Ontario
Toss: Scotland
SCOTLAND (first innings)
F Watts lbw b Katchay10
+D Lockhart not out 126
Qasim Sheikh c Bhatti b Sami 92
R Berrington c Dhaniram b Shakir 17
N McCallum not out 30
Extras (b 4, lb 4, nb 2, w 1) 11
TOTAL (for 3, 96 overs) 286
Fall: 21, 194, 229
To Bat: Omar Hussain, Majid Haq, G Drummond, G Goudie, D Nel, R Lyons
Bowling: Katchay 22-7-42-1, Shakir 23-8-55-1, Dhaniram 10-1-36-0, Sami 14-1-73-1, Ali 15-5-37, Samad 4-0-12-0, Jyoti 4-0-12-0, Saad 4-0-11-0
Canada: S Jyoti, A Jabbar, +R Bhatti, *Qaiser Ali, A Kandappah, A Samad, S Dhaniram, Saad bin Zafar, E Katchay, Shakir Mohammed, Sami Faridi
(Information provided by CricketEurope)
The ICC Intercontinental Cup has quickly grown in stature and profile since its inception three years ago and now the ICC’s premier first-class tournament is an integral part of the Associate Members’ cricket schedule.
Having previously been designed around a two-group, three-day format, the event has evolved into an eight-team, round-robin and truly global tournament featuring four-day cricket which gives those teams who do not play Test cricket the chance to experience the longer form of the game.
Scotland won the first ICC Intercontinental Cup in 2004, beating Canada in the final, while Ireland has been victorious in both events since then, beating Kenya in the 2005 decider and Canada in the 2006-07 event.
The final of the ICC Intercontinental Cup 2007-08 will take place in November 2008 at a venue yet to be confirmed.
ICC MEDIA RELEASE