SCOTLAND crashed to earth with a painful bump yesterday as streetwise Sri Lanka claimed quick and emphatic revenge.
The Scots had gone into battle at Beckenham in confident mood after pulling off a stunning triumph over the former World Cup holders.
But the smiles were well and truly wiped off their faces when the Sri Lankans bounced back in clinical fashion.
Skipper Kyle Coetzer admitted: “It was a reality check for us. We knew they would come out strongly after the weekend and that is what happened.
“However, if we had been offered a 1-1 outcome over the two matches, we would probably have taken it. Their spinners put us under pressure and we didn’t play a very good game in terms of shot execution.
“We will keep on batting positively because that is the style that suits us - there is no point in going back into our shells. The bowlers showed some real pace and at time their batsmen were bothered.”
The writing was on the wall as Scotland lost a crucial toss in cloudy conditions and were bundled out for just 166.
And the target proved predictably easy, their star-studded opponents cruising to victory with nine wickets and more than 27 overs to spare.
The only breakthrough came with the pursuit on 58, Niroshan Dickwella lobbing Ali Evans into the hands of Mark Watt. Upal Tharanga and Kusal Mendis brought up the hundred in 15 overs. And they both passed the 50 mark as they guided their team to the most comfortable of wins.
Earlier, the Scots couldn’t have feared a more ominous start after being put in to bat. Coetzer – fresh from his swashbuckling century on Sunday – looked uneasy in the trickier conditions.
With the tally on five, he survived a straightforward chance - only to nick the next delivery from Nuwan Kulusekara to slip. Calum MacLeod then fell for four, pulling the same bowler to Seekkuge Prasanna at midwicket, leaving his side in potential peril at 15 for two.
Matthew Cross, the other century star from the weekend, maintained his momentum, but frustratingly perished with the faintest of edges to the keeper.
The experienced Richie Berrington and Con de Lange steadied the ship, but only briefly. However, they perished in quick succession to reduce Scotland to 71 for five. And even worse was to come four runs later as Dylan Budge went for two.
The procession back to the pavilion continued with Mark Watt departing with the score on 83. At this stage, the Scots were in danger of failing to break through the three-figure barrier.
But Craig Wallace, in tandem with Ali Evans, provided fresh hope.
Evans reached 22 before becoming victim No.8 and Stuart Whittingham was run out before even facing a ball.
Wallace was last to succumb with 46, leaving Gaving Main 10 not out.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here