SCOTLAND made a disastrous start to their Friends Provident Trophy campaign in Edinburgh as Lancashire earned clinical revenge for last season’s shock at Old Trafford.

Apr 28 2008 by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Daily Post

The Scots had gone into battle in confident mood in the wake of that stunning success.

But they had no answer to the pace and power of the Lightning attack, which did not even need Andrew Flintoff to play a starring role as he stepped up his comeback quest. The Saltires, who contributed to their own demise with three shocking run-outs, limped to a total of just 73, leaving the Red Rose county to stroll to glory by eight wickets with 38 overs to spare.

The tone was set when Scotland’s new Australian recruit Ed Cowan’s stumps were shattered by a fast and swinging delivery by Jimmy Anderson for a duck.

Skipper Ryan Watson then edged Glenn Chapple to keeper Luke Sutton before the jitters really set in. Colin Smith was also snapped up by Sutton off Anderson, while Fraser Watts and Gavin Hamilton were the victims of crazy run-outs to leave the Saltires floundering on 21-5. Even worse was to come three runs later when Neil McCallum followed in the footsteps of Watson and Smith.

John Blain was trapped lbw by Steve Croft, then Gordon Drummond completed the run-out treble. The target was never likely to trouble the Lightning and they raced to the win with only a couple of awkward moments, Dewald Nel getting rid of Mal Loye and Gareth Cross.

Their departure left the stage clear for Flintoff (27no) and Stuart Law (14no) to rattle up the rest.

And it was the former who delivered the final blow with a huge six off Nel.

Meanwhile New Zealand begin their npower Test series preparations against Kent today with their best players on leave in India.

Captain Daniel Vettori, hard-hitting wicket-keeper Brendon McCullum and all-rounder Jacob Oram are among the five conspicuous by their absence at the start of the tour due to the Indian Premier League.

Jamie How leads his country for the first time at Canterbury and will take his place in a new-look top order. Aaron Redmond, a former leg-spinner who reinvented himself as a batsman and who has played for Wigan in the Liverpool Competition, will open with How while left-hander Daniel Flynn will also get a chance to stake his claim for the first Test at Lord’s.

“The ones we have picked are form players domestically,” said coach John Bracewell. “They have played very well over the last two years and earned the opportunity.

“Now we have to see if they want to become, not just Black Caps, but great Black Caps; to do that they have to make some tough sacrifices.

“One of the issues we have is that our domestic cricket is not that strong.”