Spinner Jamie Cairns starred with the ball, but Scotland had to settle for 14th place overall in the ICC under-19 men’s World Cup in the West Indies after they were beaten by Uganda on Sunday by 51-runs via DLS.
The 13/14th place play-off took place at the Diego Martin Sporting Complex in Diego Martin and Charlie Peet’s charges tried to raise themselves for one last big performance of the tournament.
After some early rain, the match was reduced from 50-overs-a-side to 45 and Uganda batted first.
Scotland got off to the perfect start with the ball when opening bowler Sean Fischer-Keogh bowled Fahad Mutagana for a duck with the fifth ball of the match.
Opening batter Ronald Opio and number three Ronald Lutaaya then put on 61 for the second wicket before the former was out for 34 in the ninth over. It was Jack Jarvis who got the scalp, having him caught by Fischer-Keogh.
Lutaaya and skipper Pascal Murungi then kept the runs coming, putting on 75 for the third wicket.
They were on 136 in the 20th over when the latter went for 49, caught and bowled by Cairns.
Oliver Davidson took the next wicket – having Cyrus Kakuru, the wicketkeeper, caught by Rafay Khan for 31 in the 30th over.
Then the Cairns show really began.
He removed top scorer Lutaaya for 64 caught and bowled then took three more wickets before there was a run out.
The flurry of activity continued as he took the final wicket in the 36th over, Uganda’s charge having been stunted as they fell to 226 all out with overs to spare.
Cairns figures of 6-24 from 6.4 overs and included two maidens and, amazingly, four of the wickets were caught and bowled.
With the bat in reply, Scotland got off to the worst possible start when wicketkeeper Charlie Tear was bowled with the first ball of the innings by Juma Miyaji.
When number three Muhaymen Majeed followed him back to the pavilion they were 7-2 and facing an uphill battle.
Davidson and Tom Mackintosh then put on 46 for the third wicket to settle things a bit before the latter was out for 19 at the end of the 10th over.
Jarvis joined Davidson at the crease and 53 runs were added for the fourth wicket until the former was out for 37 off 31 balls in the 19th over.
When Gabriel Gallman-Findlay and then Davidson fell, the latter for a battling 31 off 63 balls, it was 121-6 in the 24th over.
Down the order, skipper Peet showed his fighting spirit with 29 not out off 31 balls, but the last four wickets fell for 49 runs as the second half score of 170 all out to give the African nation a 51-run triumph via DLS.
For Uganda with the ball, Miyaji was the main man, his 4-25 from eight overs including two maidens an excellent return and the Scots never got to grips with him.
The Scotland touring party will now travel home with lots of lessons learnt from playing against top quality opponents with all of the young players looking to kick on in the 2022 domestic season.
