PETE Steindl, the Scotland coach, last night called on his batsmen to dig in for the long haul in next week’s I-Cup clash with Holland.

Steindl reacted after watching his Lions crash to a nine-wicket defeat against the Cricket Scotland Cavaliers at Uddingston.

Only New Zealander George Worker made a substantial score in the three-day encounter with a first innings century for the Cavaliers.

But several Scots made promising starts only to perish before reaching 50 and Steindl said: “That has been a disappointing feature of the match.

“Some of the Scottish guys in both sides made starts but didn’t convert them into big scores.

“Clearly that is something that has to be addressed.”

Resuming 24 runs adrift, the Lions needed to bat well into the day to have a chance of salvaging a draw.

Instead three wickets fell in the first hour as Clydesdale’s Pakistani professional Nazar Hussain completed a five-wicket haul.

Ryan Flannigan held the Cavaliers at bay with a fighting 49 – the highest score by a Scot in the match.

His innings included two straight sixes off Moneeb Iqbal who then had his revenge, trapping Flannigan lbw to deny him a half-century.

The Lions were all out for 179, leaving their rivals a simple victory target of 54 and Arbroath’s Marc Petrie led the way with an aggressive 27no.

Steindl added: “The match has been a useful exercise ahead of the Holland fixture but we’ll be looking for our batsmen to spend longer at the crease next week.”

Skipper Gordon Drummond and other senior stars like Neil McCallum, Fraser Watts and Preston Mommsen, who all missed the Uddingston match, will return to face the Dutch at Mannofield.

Scoreboard: Scotland Lions 161 and 179 (R Flannigan 49, M Parker 39, Q Sheikh 36; N Hussain 5-55) Cricket Scotland Cavaliers 287 and 54-1 (M Petrie 27no).
Cavaliers won by nine wickets.