THE County Ground, Derby, has been a relatively happy hunting ground for the Saltires in recent years, but yesterday's visit proved a frustrating occasion as the combination of a familiar batting collapse and equally familiar rain conspired against the visitors.
Sent in to bat, Scotland contrived to slide from 156 for four to 169 all out before rain threatened to let them off the hook when Derbyshire's innings was interrupted four overs short of a contest.

However, conditions eased sufficiently for play to resume with the county set a revised and eminently achievable target of 136 from 34 overs.

Despite a typically spirited display in the field, during which Glenn Rogers and Gordon Drummond shared four wickets while John Blain and Craig Wright bowled threateningly, this proved a comfortable task for a side still on a high following a thrilling one-run success against holders Durham on Friday evening.

Openers Steve Stubbings and Chris Rogers set the tone, picking off the singles and punishing anything wayward to keep themselves ahead of the required rate. Once established, Rogers opened out with a series of attractive shots including three boundaries in one over from Dewald Nel.

The Western Australian put on 71 with Stubbings before losing his partner, stumped by Colin Smith, in Glen Rogers' first over. Rogers also claimed the wicket of John Saddler but his namesake in the opposing side went on to hit 57, with eight boundaries, before being trapped by Drummond.

By then, though, only 33 runs were needed and, while Drummond claimed another notable scalp in the shape of home skipper Rikki Clarke, the Phantoms cruised to a six-wicket win with 14 balls to spare.

Earlier Scotland's innings promised a lot more than it ultimately delivered. Navdeep Poonia's 75 – the on-loan Warwickshire batsman's highest score for Scotland – provided the backbone after the loss of Fraser Watts and Ed Cowan, both to South African seamer Charl Langeveldt, had left the visitors on 34 for two.

Poonia shared partnerships of 48 with both Smith and Gavin Hamilton but a truly substantial stand proved elusive.

Smith, having looked positive from the start, had reached 13 when he edged Jonathan Clare to wicketkeeper Jamie Pipe, while Hamilton had made three runs more when he went in similar fashion, this time to Langeveldt.

The Springbok bowler went on to finish with 4-28 but it was Clare who made the decisive strike when he brought Poonia's bright knock to a close, the Glasgow-born batsman having surpassed his previous best score of 67 against Canada with one of his nine boundaries before nicking to Pipe.

The Saltires then proceeded to lose four wickets in 15 deliveries for the addition of just two more runs as the middle order failed to fire in steady drizzle.

They travel north to Manchester this morning, when they will try to exact revenge on Lancashire for a heavy defeat at home last month.