Bermuda has it all to do on the final day of its ICC Intercontinental Cup match against Scotland , needing another 250 runs for victory with just six second-innings wickets remaining.
Set a target of 373 runs to win, Bermuda has lost four cheap wickets – not to mention Chris Foggo retired hurt – and at the close of play on day three had moved up to 123-4, still a long way from victory.
The only real possibility it has of winning the game depends on Steven Outerbridge. The 25-year-old left-hander has been batting well and finished unbeaten on 71 having shared an unbroken fifth-wicket partnership of 58 with Rodney Trott.
Outerbridge’s first job will be to pass 80, his highest score in first-class cricket, and then he will be looking to make it to three figures for the first time in his career. But even that will not be enough and he will be expected to bat for most of the day on Sunday if the home supporters in Bermuda are to have anything to shout about.
Earlier, Scotland had declared on 196-9 as Fraser Watts top scored with 83. That brings Watts ’ total run-haul for the match to 176, an impressive effort when very few of his team-mates seemed capable of adapting to the conditions.
George O’Brien (3-39) was the pick of the Bermuda bowlers but he was well supported by Trott (2-22) and Stefan Kelly (2-47) as Neil McCallum (44 not out) was the only Scotland batsman to find his feat at the National Stadium.
ICC Intercontinental Cup (day three)
At: Hamilton , Bermuda
Umpires: Shahul Hameed, Roger Dill
Scotland 282 all out, 96 overs) (F Watts 93, Majid Haq 46; D Leverock 6-120)Bermuda 106 all out, 53.2 overs (C Foggo 53; D Nel 4-27, S Weeraratna 3-14)
SCOTLAND (second innings contd, 83-3 overnight)F Watts c Pitcher b Kelly 83D Lockhart lbw O'Brien 1Qasim Sheikh b O'Brien 9R Berrington c Edness b O'Brien 0C Smith b Kelly 38N McCallum not out 42Majid Haq c Romaine b Trott 5S Weeraratna c sub (Hollis) b Trott 5G Goudie run out (O'Brien) 6D Nel st Edness b Leverock 1Extras (1w, 2lb, 2b, 1nb) 6TOTAL (for 9 declared, 53.3 overs) 196
Fall: 1-1, 2-22, 3-22, 4-125, 5-158, 6-170, 7-186, 8-195, 9-196Did not bat: R Lyons
Bowling: O'Brien 12-2-39-3, Kelly 15-3-47-2, Leverock 20.3-3-76-1, Trott 5-0-22-2, Outerbridge 1-0-8-0
BERMUDA (second innings)
C Foggo retired hurt 0O Bascome c McCallum b Goudie 3J Celestine lbw b Nel 11S Outerbridge not out 71OJ Pitcher lbw Lyons 6J Edness c Smith b Lyons 0R Trott not out 21Extras (2w, 4lb, 5nb) 11Total (for 4, 51 overs) 123
Fall: 1-4, 2-20, 3-65, 4-65Still to bat: I Romaine, D Leverock, S Kelly, G O'BrienBowling: Nel 13-2-37-1, Goudie 10-3-14-1, Weeraratna 7-2-14-0, Majid9-1-34-0, Lyons 12-4-20-2
Bermuda needs 250 runs for victory with six wickets remaining.
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