Scotland have given themselves a good chance at reaching the play-off stages of the World Twenty20 Qualifier after a close match against the Netherlands today in Dubai.

Batting first after Dutch captain Peter Borren won the toss, Scotland started their innings circumspectly to start with, just keeping the scoreboard ticking over and keeping wickets in hand. They were scoring only slightly better than a run a ball, with Richie Berrington scoring 38 from 31 balls.

They began to accelerate in the second half of the innings, even more so when Kyle Coetzer was dismissed in the 15th over with the score on 93. The fifth wicket pair of Matt Machan and Rob Taylor then really put their collective foot on the gas.

The pair put on an unbroken 72 for the final wicket in 5.5 overs, with Machan finishing on 67, whilst Taylor had clubbed 41 from just 19 balls to take the Scottish total to 165-4.

The Dutch reply progressed in similar fashion to the Scottish one, starting slowly at first, before accelerating in the second half. Wesley Barresi played a similar role to Machan, scoring 70 from 49 balls, but the Dutch were lacking someone who could come in late and hit the ball around like Rob Taylor.

Majid Haq was the pick of the bowlers for Scotland, and he took 3-20 as the Dutch were restricted to 150-6, losing by 15 runs.

Scotland will have day off tomorrow before they play Denmark on Sunday in a match they'll be expecting to win. The Netherlands play their final group game tomorrow, when they take on Kenya.