SCOTLAND SLIP TO NARROW SRI LANKA DEFEAT
Scotland Women were edged out in a low-scoring thriller by Sri Lanka, to lose for the first time in this year's Emerging Nations Trophy.
Batting first, Scotland posted 111-8, and were reliant on Darcey Carter's 11th T20 International half-century to hold the innings together, the opening batter batting into into the final over for her 55-ball 62.
Carter had seen her slide slip to 26-4 after eight overs, as Katherine Fraser (0), Sarah Bryce (2), Kathryn Bryce (4) and Pippa Sproul (1) all fell cheaply.
However, Scotland recovered well as Carter found support, first in Priyanaz Chatterji (9), and then in Megan McColl (16), as partnerships of 23 and 37 dragged Scotland towards a competitive total.
Sathya Sandeepani (2-18) and Sugandika Kumari (2-15) were the outstanding bowlers in Sri Lanka's attack, who conceded just five boundaries on a tricky surface for batting.
Vishmi Gunaratne proved to be a thorn in Scotland's side, striking a 41-ball 49 to hold the innings together in similar fashion to Carter, whilst being supported by Imesha Dulani (16) and Harshita Samarawickrama (24).
Scotland had got their defence of 111 off to the perfect start when Kathryn Bryce struck with her second ball, trapping Hasini Perera (0) LBW, but Sri Lanka wrestled control back as they progressed to 77-2.
However, Abtaha Maqsood (3-18) struck twice in an over to inspire another Scotland fightback as three wickets fell for the addition of just six runs.
Sri Lanka opener Gunaratne remained, taking her side within one hit of victory before she was stumped off Fraser one run short of her half-century - leaving the task of hitting the winning runs to Kaushini Nuthyangana.
Kathryn Bryce said: "We probably felt under par, but we know we've had some scraps with them quite recently, and if we could take early wickets that always puts pressure on teams.
"It was unbelievable from Darcey, the maturity she showed with us losing those early wickets to battle through that, but then lifting the tempo at the right time to come right through the innings.
"I think we're in a pretty good place, it's always good to have a pressure game under the belt and the more you play in the conditions the more you learn, so hopefully we're in a good place going into Sunday."
Scotland return to action on Sunday morning against the hosts UAE at 0915 GMT.