SCOTLAND's World Twenty20 qualifying campaign concluded yesterday with a thrilling last-ball victory over Canada at the Dubai International Stadium.

Having missed out on the big prize, fifth place in the sixteen-team tournament may have been scant consolation but the Saltires at least lifted themselves for one final effort.

Chasing a modest 135-8 they almost made a meal of it until Ryan Flannigan held his nerve at the death.

With seven runs required from the final over, the Scots lost Fraser Watts to Rizwan Cheema's first delivery.

Flannigan and Majid Haq then managed just three singles from the next four, meaning only a boundary would suffice from the final ball of the match.

And Flannigan, who had struggled to find his timing, produced a crunching drive through the offside which just eluded Nitish Kumar's despairing dive on the extra cover boundary.

Gordon Drummond, the Scotland captain, admitted: "We made it extremely hard for ourselves but at least we found a way to get over the line.

"It was a tense last over and we seem to have a habit of putting ourselves in pressure situations.

"But Ryan held his nerve and played a really good shot to win the match.

"It's pleasing to come out on top after the disappointment of failing to qualify for the World Cup."

It should never have come down to such a dramatic finale after Richie Berrington put his side on course with a fluent 47.

Shrugging off the early loss of Calum MacLeod and Preston Mommsen, the Greenock all-rounder faced just 37 balls and struck seven well-timed boundaries.

However, his dismissal, given lbw attempting an ill-advised reverse sweep, sparked a dose of middle-order madness.

Kyle Coetzer, having used up 29 balls for his 22, holed out in the deep while Jan Stander hit a rapid 21 only to fall to another injudicious stroke.

With boundaries at a premium, the Scots at least succeeded in keeping the rate to a manageable run-a-ball with some good running between the wickets.

However, it was a bit too close for comfort in the end.

Earlier the Scots contributed 23 runs in Extras – Canada's highest scorer on the day.

However, there were some fine performances with the ball, notably from Majid Haq who completed an excellent tournament with 2-20 from his four overs.

However, he was trumped on this occasion by Moneeb Iqbal who recovered from his mauling at the hands of Holland's Tom Cooper twenty-four hours earlier.

The leg-spinner leaked eighteen runs in three balls to Cooper but conceded only fifteen runs in fours overs against the Canadians

He also claimed two deserved wickets including that of Jimmy Hansra, bowled with a googly that turned prodigiously.

Yesterday's match saw the Saltires qualify for the ICC Reliance T20 Rankings where they sit in 13th place ahead of Canada and Kenya.