SCOTLAND last night suffered a disastrous start to their T20 World Cup qualifying campaign when they were comprehensively outplayed by Bermuda.
Pete Steindl's men went into their opening group match at the Sharjah Stadium as strong favourites against a side they have dominated in the past.
However, impressive warm-up wins against USA and Namibia counted for nothing when the competitive action began and the Scots now find themselves playing catch-up.
Chasing 150 for victory, Scotland were stunned in the first over when in-form Calum MacLeod was needlessly run out before he had faced a ball.
Matt Machan also went cheaply as Scotland slumped to 8-2 after just seven balls of their reply.
Richie Berrington and skipper Kyle Coetzer raised hopes of a recovery with a partnership of 57 in eight overs.
Berrington had hit two sixes and a four in his 29 - partially atoning for his part in MacLeod's demise - before being bowled by Derrick Brangman.
Rob Taylor took up the attack with a rapid 26 but when he and Coetzer departed with the score on 109 it sparked a dreadful collapse that saw Scotland lose their last seven wickets for just 22 runs.
Coetzer top-scored with 37 though the skipper, aware of the need to increase his strike-rate, perished when he danced down the track to Brangman and was stumped.
In the end, the Scots fell 18 runs short to give their rivals a victory which was as comfortable as it was unexpected.
Earlier Bermuda's batsmen had set up their victory chance with much faster scoring rates than their rivals could match.
Their top-scorer - opener Dion Stovell - achieved a modest 29 but the Caribbean islanders showed much more urgency than Scotland.
Coach Pete Steindl gave a measured response to the setback, saying: "We have to move on from this, re-group and keep on believing in what we are trying to do.
"Of course, the result is a big disappointment but it's the nature of the game. To be fair to Bermuda, they came out fighting and played well.
"They were attacking with the bat and took their chances in the field and at the end of the day that can happen."
The Scots need a first-ever T20 win over Afghanistan in Sharjah today to rekindle their hopes of qualifying for next year's World Cup in Bangladesh.
Steindl added: "We have to come out firing and focus on doing the things that have brought us success in the past."
Scorecard
| Toss won by | Bermuda |
| Umpires | BB Pradhan (Nepal) - JD Ward (Australia) |
| Home Side | Bermuda |
| Comment | Twenty20 debuts DL Brangman, AC Douglas, MO Jones, T Manders and J Robinson (Bermuda) Match referee DT Jukes (England) Reserve umpire M Hawthorne (Ireland) |
| Points Awarded | Bermuda 2, Scotland 0 |
| Batsman | Fieldsman | Bowler | Runs | Min | Bls | 4s | 6s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CD Stovell | c CS MacLeod | b RM Haq | 29 | 0 | 20 | 4 | 0 |
| T Manders | c RD Berrington | b SM Sharif | 7 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 0 |
| DL Hemp | c&b RM Haq | 11 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 0 | |
| LOB Cann | b G Goudie | 27 | 0 | 25 | 3 | 1 | |
| JJ Tucker* | c I Wardlaw | b G Goudie | 4 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 |
| AC Douglas | c RM Haq | b I Wardlaw | 21 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 2 |
| MO Jones | b I Wardlaw | 15 | 0 | 14 | 1 | 0 | |
| KS Leverock | not out | 6 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | |
| KL Tucker+ | not out | 12 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | |
| DL Brangman | dnb | - | |||||
| J Robinson | dnb | - | |||||
| extras | (b0 lb12 w5 nb0) | 17 | |||||
| TOTAL | 7 wickets for | 149 |
| FOW |
|---|
| 1-36(T Manders) 2-48(CD Stovell) 3-55(DL Hemp) 4-79(JJ Tucker) 5-105(LOB Cann) |
| 6-129(AC Douglas) 7-129(MO Jones) |
| Bowler | O | M | R | W | wd | nb |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I Wardlaw | 4 | 0 | 39 | 2 | 1 | - |
| NM Carter | 4 | 0 | 29 | 0 | 1 | - |
| SM Sharif | 3 | 0 | 27 | 1 | 3 | - |
| RM Haq | 4 | 0 | 23 | 2 | - | - |
| CS MacLeod | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | - | - |
| G Goudie | 3 | 0 | 16 | 2 | - | - |
| Batsman | Fieldsman | Bowler | Runs | Min | Bls | 4s | 6s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RD Berrington | b DL Brangman | 29 | 0 | 28 | 1 | 2 | |
| CS MacLeod | run out MO Jones | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| MW Machan | c DL Brangman | b KS Leverock | 5 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| KJ Coetzer* | st KL Tucker | b DL Brangman | 37 | 0 | 39 | 1 | 2 |
| RML Taylor | b J Robinson | 26 | 0 | 19 | 2 | 0 | |
| SM Sharif | c KS Leverock | b JJ Tucker | 4 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| G Goudie | c MO Jones | b J Robinson | 7 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 0 |
| D Murphy+ | c LOB Cann | b J Robinson | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| RM Haq | st KL Tucker | b JJ Tucker | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| NM Carter | lbw | b JJ Tucker | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| I Wardlaw | not out | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | |
| extras | (b0 lb1 w13 nb0) | 14 | |||||
| TOTAL | 10 wickets for | 131 |
| FOW |
|---|
| 1-1(CS MacLeod) 2-8(MW Machan) 3-65(RD Berrington) 4-109(RML Taylor) |
| 5-109(KJ Coetzer) 6-118(G Goudie) 7-119(D Murphy) 8-120(RM Haq) 9-122(SM Sharif) |
| 10-131(NM Carter) |
| Bowler | O | M | R | W | wd | nb |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MO Jones | 4 | 0 | 21 | 0 | 2 | - |
| KS Leverock | 2 | 0 | 24 | 1 | 3 | - |
| JJ Tucker | 3.5 | 0 | 22 | 3 | 1 | - |
| CD Stovell | 4 | 0 | 26 | 0 | 1 | - |
| DL Brangman | 4 | 0 | 29 | 2 | - | - |
| J Robinson | 2 | 0 | 8 | 3 | - | - |