TEMPTING as it was to declare that it could have been worse, the wreckage of Scotland's first cricketing engagement with England was a sight for sore eyes in the north of Edinburgh last night. Rain permitted only 46.3 overs of play before consigning a well-contested, landmark one-day international to a no-result.

Scotland's batsmen recovered from a calamitous start, as is their wont, to make a respectable score in dire conditions. Gavin Hamilton and Colin Smith made hearts swell with a well-compiled partnership of 64 for the fourth wicket, and long-handle-bearers lower down the order took the Scots past 150. But just as the bowlers sought to reprise Hamilton's defiance, the heaviest of the day's four showers made irreparable damage to the damp outfield.

After morning rain, Scotland were given a revised 47 overs to bat and once the allocation had been cut to 44, they added 60 in the last 10 overs to post 156 for nine wickets. England's target was adjusted to 159 and Ian Bell had guided them safely to 10-0 after 15 balls of the reply. The smart money was on England winning the game but John Blain and Craig Wright dearly wanted to educate them as to the primary strength of Scottish cricket and, more precisely, give these well-paid luminaries from the south a fright.

Yet another August deluge robbed them of that opportunity while simultaneously allowing enough cricket to deny the punters a refund of their £48 admission fee. The wealthy, the stubborn and the eternally faithful among them can now mark 28 August, 2009 in the diary: Australia are coming back next year for another bash at completing an ODI.

So what justified the entry fee yesterday? Certainly the lion's share of the cricket played was very watchable. When the Scots batted, they really batted, five crowd-pleasing sixes flashed over the perimeters and the tail wagged sufficiently to give the bowlers some room to manoeuvre. The pity was that teenager Calum MacLeod, who made memorable his ODI debut with some lusty hits off Andrew Flintoff and Tim Bresnan, didn't get the chance to impress with ball in hand.

Scotland's Navdeep Poonia said on the eve of the game that if he and Kyle Coetzer made runs, Scotland would compile a competitive total. He was stupendously wrong – the vaunted county pair didn't make a run between them and it was a day for older heads. Jimmy Anderson struggled to control the wayward ball but Tim Bresnan pitched the ball up to account for the county duo. In consecutive overs Coetzer and Poonia pushed at full deliveries outside off stump and the ball flew into the grateful hands of Flintoff, then Samit Patel, wisely stationed at third slip.

With 11 on the board, two wickets would have been bad enough but Scotland had already lost their captain. Hamilton played an early ball off his legs and took a couple of paces down the wicket. Ryan Watson went somewhat further before being sent back, and Patel took out middle stump with Watson well short of his ground.

Hamilton was mostly watchful but occasionally brutal. He left the first five balls of Anderson's third over before walking down the wicket to hit him into the hospitality zone. The very next ball, Bresnan offered a half-volley and Smith drove it through the covers for four, and the relief was tangible. After Bresnan banged one in short and Smith top-edged pull fine for six, Scotland were 32-3 after 10 overs.

Enter the imposing Flintoff. A bouncer clattered into the helmet of Smith, whose 36 was lit up by an impeccable straight six off Bresnan, and Hamilton was dropped in successive overs, by Anderson at slip and Luke Wright at third man. Seldom in his career has the once-capped England player enjoyed anything that kind of luck. Eight years ago, he was guiding Scotland to their first World Cup win here when he was run out via a Bangladesh bowler's fingertips at the non-striker's end.

Smith fell to an upper cut off Stuart Broad but it was Flintoff who really turned the game back in England's favour. "Him coming round the wicket to left-handers on a semi-helpful pitch was tricky," said Hamilton later. "I'm not going to try and pretend – I was trying to see him off and score at the other end."

A pushed single off Anderson brought Hamilton to his half-century, and when Broad returned he lashed him for a third six, but an attempt to run Flintoff fine proved fatal as Matt Prior took a flying catch. "Fred's a decent sportsman, so I thought I would let him have my wicket at the end there," smiled Hamilton, who first faced the tyro in Roses battles in second XI cricket in the mid-1990s.

Last word to the England captain. "Hamilton played OK," gushed Pietersen, before admitting he had bigger fish to fry. South Africa await tomorrow.