SKIPPER Kyle Coetzer led from the front as Scotland came out of their mid-summer shutdown to sweep aside MCC at Lord’s yesterday.

The action-starved Scots had endured two blank months since their ODI series against Zimbabwe in June but there was little side of rustiness as Coetzer’s men dominated from the start in a 139-run win.

Batting first, Scotland made a bright start as George Munsey raced to 25 with four boundaries and a maximum before he fell to countrymen Ali Evans who went on to be MCC’s star bowler.

However, the Scottish total of 309 was based on a 106-run stand for the second wicket between Coetzer and Calum MacLeod.

Both men reached half-centuries and, while MacLeod fell – also to Evans – for a well-crafted 57, the captain went on to top-score with a superb 83.

He stroked ten boundaries and one six and looked set for a century until holing out in the deep.

Richie Berrington weighed-in with a typically classy 36 but Evans went on to claim 4-52, adding the scalps of Michael Leask (21) and Mark Watt (24) to peg the Scots back.

MCC’s hopes of a successful run-chase suffered a triple blow as Safyaan Sharif struck three times to reduce them to 15-3.

And Forfarshire’s Scott Cameron marked his cap debut with a brilliant opening spell which saw him concede just four runs while picking up the wicket of Chris Greaves.  
Cameron returned to the attack to claim a second wicket while Mark Watt kept Scotland on top with 2-37 as the MCC batsmen struggled to play a substantial innings.

The victory charge was stalled by West Indies legend Shiv Chanderpaul who ground out a dogged 67 but when he was run out by Berrington the Scots closed in on victory, Sharif topping the bowling charts with 3-29 while Cameron completed a memorable debut with 2-9.

It was a thoroughly professional display from Coetzer’s men who will now have to wait until October for their next competitive action against Papua New Guinea.