Close of play - Day Two

Scotland 185 and 199 (J Stander 64, G Drummond 34, E Chalmers 24, R Cheema 3-39, K Chohan 3-50, S Keshnavi 2-20) v Canada 142 and 0/0.

Yet another fine rearguard action from the Scotland tailenders has given them the upper hand in their topsy turvy clash with Canada at Mannofield.

Reduced to 99 for 7 by another fine seam bowling display from Rizwan Cheema (3-39), and Khurram Chohan (3-50), the Scots lead at that juncture was a precarious 142. It was in effect 99 for 8 with wicket-keeper Simon sidelined with his shoulder injury.

Step forward South African born Jan Stander who rescued his adopted country with a superb 64 from 128 balls. The powerful hitter curbed some of his natural aggression, but still managed to strike two sixes and six fours. His innings allowed the last two wickets to add exactly 100 runs, sharing in stands of 69 with skipper Gordon Drummond (34), and Calum MacLeod (12*).

There were also useful cameos from debutant Ewan Chalmers (24) and Majid Haq (14), but once again the failure of the Scotland top order must give coach Pete Steindl cause for concern.

Tomorrow has the potential to be a real thriller, as the pitch showed signs of flattening out, particularly as the ball got a little older and softer. If Canada can survive the first 20 overs of the new ball, and show a little more application and wiser shot selection, they could well pull off a rare away victory.

Scotland though will start with the momentum of the game in their favour, and a successful new ball burst will put them on course for a maximum 20 point haul.

Lunch - Day Two

Scotland 185  and 30/3 (13.4 overs, F Watts 11, M Iqbal 11, R Watson 4, K Chohan 1-0, R Cheema 1-2, U Bhatti 1-10) lead Canada 142 (R Cheema 35, K Chohan 23*, C MacLeod 4-66, J Stander 3-43, G Drummond 2-22) by 73 runs.

Bowlers continued to hold sway on the second morning of the Intercontinental Cup clash between Scotland and Canada in a rather cloudy Aberdeen.

Resuming on 108 for 7, Canada lost skipper Umar Bhatti with the addition of just four runs, trapped lbw by Calum MacLeod. He can consider himself rather unlucky as the ball seemed destined to go over the stumps.

Rizwan Cheema, who top scored with 35, fell shortly afterwards, caught behind by Ryan Watson off the bowling of Jan Stander. The former skipper was donning the wicket-keeping gloves following a shoulder injury to Simon Smith playing football in the warm-ups.

Khurram Chohan (23*) played some lovely shots in a late cameo, making a mockery of his lowly number ten status in the batting order, but he was left stranded after Henry Osinde (1) became MacLeod's fourth victim of the innings.

Canada's final total of 142 saw them finish 43 runs adrift, and they knew early wickets were crucial if they were to have any chance of getting back into the contest.Initially that didn't happen as Moneeb Iqbal and Fraser Watts put on 25 with relatively little cause for alarm.

However Bhatti induced Iqbal (11) into a false shot, edging a drive to Sander Jyoti at second slip to give them a vital breakthrough. Watts (11) followed three runs later, edging first innings bowling hero Khurram Chohan's first delivery through to the safe gloves of Mulla.

What could well be a decisive blow came on the stroke of lunch, when Ryan Watson (4) played an ill judged shot, pulling a Rizwan Cheema short ball straight to Keshnavi at square leg. That left the game back in the balance, with Scotland 30-3, and Canada very much back in the frame.