Veteran Dougie Lockhart was the ton-up hero last night as Scotland
kept alive their slim hopes of reclaiming the Intercontinental Cup.

Lockhart - with the help of Qasim Sheikh - masterminded a robust
recovery after they suffered an early blow on the opening day of the
tussle with Canada.

Skipper Fraser Watts was out in the opening stages in King City, near
Toronto, however the pair put the Scots in firm control with a patient
partnership of 174.

Clydesdale star Sheikh fell just eight short of a century before
Lockhart reached 126 not out as the Scots made 286 for three at the
close.

It was Lockhart's maiden first-class hundred and his highest
international tally. His vigil has lasted 270 balls and he hit 12 fours.

Scotland coach Peter Steindl had been forced to shuffle his line-up
when record-breaking wicketkeeper Colin Smith pulled out injured.

The gloved were handed to opener Lockhart, with Omer Hussein being
brought in to the top half of the order.

In addition, seamer Sean Weeraratna was left out and replaced by
Gordon Drummond.

Despite the troubled build up, which included being stranded in
Bermuda for 24 hours due to the after effects of Hurricane Bertha,
Watts had no hesitation in opting to bat after winning the toss.

But he and Lockhart found things far from easy against a tidy but
hardly menacing home attack of Elon Katchay and Shakir Mohammed.

Watts, who went into the match on the back of two crucial half-
centuries against the Bermudans, never looked settled.

And when he had reached 10 in the 12th over, the captain made the
mistake of playing no shot against a Katchay delivery that nipped in
off the seam and was lbw.

Lockhart and Qasim Sheikh continued to toil to find fluency until they
plundered 15 runs off overs 23 and 24.

They were unable to keep up the tempo, however, and became bogged down
again either side of lunch.

Canadian captain Qaiser Ali produced a superb spell of five overs
without giving away so much as a single.

Then Sheikh seemed to have a lucky escape when a nudge down the leg
side was spilled by keeper Rustum Bhatti off Katchay.

Lockhart brought up his fifty with a boundary off Dhaniram - with
Sheikh reaching the same landmark in the 53rd over.

The latter was on course to reach the magical three-figure mark - only
to perish on 92 when he nicked Sami Faridi into the gloves of Bhatti.

Richie Berrington was next to depart for 17 - leaving the stage clear
for Lockhart to bring up his century in the 78th over with a single
off Faridi.

Neil McCallum was the other undefeated batsman on 30.