Ireland fell to their second defeat in two days, losing by 5 wickets to old foes Scotland at Mannofield in Aberdeen.

Having won the toss and decided to bat, Ireland struggled against the new ball pairing of Dewald Nel and John Blain, and lost the early wickets of Reinhardt Strydom (11), Paul Stirling (4), and Andre Botha (1).

Gary Wilson help up the Scots hitting 5 boundaries in his 39, before edging Gordon Goudie behind to Colin Smith, one of 5 catches for the 35 year old Aberdeen policeman.

A 65 run stand between Andrew White and Ryan Haire brought Ireland back from the brink, with the pair playing sensible cricket. White had reached 34 before top edging a pull off John Blain, with Gavin Hamilton taking a spectacular one handed effort, diving backwards on the boundary.

Haire went on to score 54 in 64 balls, hitting 7 fours and a six, before tamely driving to Berrington at point. When Andrew Poynter went for just a single, it looked very doubtful if Ireland would bat their allocation of overs.

Kyle McCallan (39), and Thinus Fourie (19*) ensured they did, adding 57 for the 8th wicket, with McCallan in particular giving the innings some much needed momentum at the end, with 40 runs coming in the last 4 overs. Their final total of 210 for 8 was much better than expected after their poor start, but still looked to be 30-40 runs short of what would be required for victory.

That proved to be the case, as despite the early loss of  Ryan Watson for 0, Scotland were always in control. A second wicket stand of 70 between Gavin Hamilton and Qasim Sheikh (23), was ended when Gary Kidd caught a Sheikh drive off McCallan.

That brought Colin Smith to the crease with Hamilton, and together the pair combined to take the game away from the Irish. The pair added 122 for the 3rd wicket, with Smith making 59, and Hamilton a superb 115.

A flurry of late wickets brought a degree of respectability to the scorecard, but in truth the Irish were never in the game at any stage.

The squad travel to Rotterdam next week for a 4 day Intercontinental fixture with the Netherlands. Ireland are of course the defending champions, having won the trophy in 2007 against Canada.