THEY travelled to Cardiff in confident mood following last week’s historic T20 victory over Bangladesh.

However, Scotland’s cricketers were last night left to reflect on a sixth consecutive CB40 defeat and perhaps to rue their decision to bat first on a slow, low wicket at the SWALEC Stadium.

It certainly looked as though stand-in captain Preston Mommsen picked the wrong option though, while assistant coach Tony Judd later admitted to a mis-reading of the wicket, he preferred to blame poor play for this latest defeat.

In any event, a meagre total of 151-9 was never likely to be enough especially with the Scottish bowlers unable to find consistency from both ends.

When the dust settled on another disappointing display the Welsh Dragons had cruised to an eight-wicket victory and the Saltires were rooted to the bottom of Group B.

Judd said: “It was obviously a very difficult wicket and we didn’t read it.

“We didn’t expect it to be as slow and low as it was and there was obviously a lot of variable bounce as well.

“Having said that, we had opportunities to certainly make a lot more runs than we did and that’s disappointing.

“There were still a lot of soft dismissals despite the difficult conditions.”

However, Judd added: “Looking at the pitch this morning it was dry and had no grass and I would defy anyone not to say let’s go and post a big total on here.

“We mis-read how bad the bounce was going to be but that would make me even more determined to bat first.

“It was only going to get worse – if we’d managed to post a decent total. You could see the way (Majid) Haq bowled that there was enough turn that 220 would probably have won you the game.

“Defending such a low total we also needed to bowl a lot better up front. We knew they would come hard and we needed to execute our skills when the ball was hard.

“It’s disappointing especially after how we played last week (against Bangladesh) and goes to show we still suffer a lot from inconsistency.”

Gareth Rees led the victory charge with a hard-hitting though he was helped along the way by some wayward bowling especially from Gordon Goudie and Josh Davey whose first over alone went for 17 runs.

Rees went on to finish unbeaten on 60 with seven boundaries and a colossal six off the unfortunate Davey as the county reached their target with twelve overs to spare.

Richie Berrington did pick up a couple of consolation wickets while Majid Haq bowled with his customary guile.

Scotland had earlier failed to build on a steady start from Davey and Calum MacLeod.

They had reached 27 in the sixth over when Davey chased a wide one from Simon Jones and edged to keeper Mark Wallace.

MacLeod, always eager to dominate, then allowed frustration to get the better of him when he attempted to make room for a forcing shot only to be bowled by Jim Allenby.

Goudie, playing the pinch-hitting role in place of Jan Stander, faced just one delivery which he sadly drove into the hands of Stewart Walters at short cover.

It was a measure of Scotland’s toils that at the end of the first twelve overs they had managed just two boundaries off the bat with a further one contributed as overthrows.

Their predicament merely intensified when Berrington, a century hero in the victory over Bangladesh, was the second victim of Allenby’s military medium seamers.

Berrington had stroked one glorious boundary through the offside when he played across a straight one and departed for six.

Allenby delivered a further blow when he took a simple return catch to remove Jean Symes for 11 and, at 54-5, the Saltires were in disarray.

Mommsen and Ewan Chalmers, a surprise choice ahead in the starting eleven, at least managed to steady the ship.

However, their progress was painfully slow with Chalmers in particular struggling for his timing on what was his first top flight outing since June 5.

At least the Watsonians man displayed durability in helping his skipper add 70 for the sixth wicket!

There were sporadic outbursts of attacking intent as when Mommsen hoisted Dean Cosker over long-off for the one and only maximum of Scotland’s innings while Chalmers also showed his capability with a couple of well-timed fours.

The departure of Mommsen, though, sparked the second collapse of the innings.

Having made 41, the Carlton batsman chopped a delivery from John Glover onto his stumps as four wickets fell in the last six overs as the Saltires tried in vain to hoist their tally to something defendable.

Chalmers survived until the final over, holing out for a 69-ball 38.

Allenby meanwhile sent down his eight-over allocation for only 16 runs while Glover matched his three-wicket tally.