Watts blasts Scotland to rare win

FRIENDS PROVIDENT TROPHY, GROUP B, The Grange
Scotland 80-1 beat Kent 65-4 by 9 wkts (D/L) (Scotland 2pts, Kent 0pts)

Scotland v Kent scorecard

Fraser Watts hit six fours and two sixes in his swashbuckling 45

Scotland damaged Kent's hopes of qualifying for the Friends Provident Trophy quarter-finals with a weather-assisted win in rain-hit Edinburgh.

Fraser Watts smashed 45 in 38 balls as the Scots reached a revised Duckworth/Lewis target of 77 from 18 overs.

It was Scotland's first Trophy win of the summer after six Group B defeats.

But the weather played a big part at The Grange as, after Kent made 65-4 from 19.5 overs, the Scots got home on 80-1 after a three-hour delay.

Kent are one of three teams who can can still join unbeaten Group B winners Somerset in the last eight.

But Robert Key's men must beat Warwickshire in the final round of qualifying games at Edgbaston on Wednesday - and improve their run rate to better than that of the Bears and the other contenders, Middlesex.

Even allowing for the unwelcoming Edinburgh weather, they will be kicking themselves, for not taking the chance to extend Scotland's 10-game losing run in this competition.

But the Saltires, who had not won since beating Lancashire for the third time at Old Trafford last May, read the runes right when they won the toss.

They elected to bowl under heavy clouds, despite missing Craig Wright and Gordon Drummond through injury, and were soon rewarded.

WEDNESDAY'S GROUP B FIXTURES

Scotland v Somerset, The Grange (1045 BST)

Warwickshire v Kent, Edgbaston (1045 BST)

FP Trophy quarter-final qualifiers so far . . . Lancashire, Somerset, Gloucestershire, Sussex

Sean Weeraratna, in for Wright, scattered Joe Denly's stumps with his fifth ball. And, in his next over, Kent captain Key was caught at square leg off a no ball, then clean bowled with the resulting free hit.

But Key never looked comfortable, managing just 14 before chopping Jan Stander onto his stumps.

Weeraratna then induced Martin van Jaarsveld to chip straight to Gavin Hamilton at mid-on. And, when Kent wicketkeeper Geraint Jones was stumped off the bowling of Majid Haq, Scotland were dreaming of their first home win since 2006.

They were forced to dream a little longer by the rain which brought Kent's innings to a premature end in the 20th over.

But, when the covers came off three hours later, and having been set such a comfortable target, the Scots set about flaying the Kent attack, treating the match like the Twenty20 spectacle it had become.

With the rain closing in again, Watts in particular was in a hurry.

He smashed 21 from one Simon Cook over - including two flat bat sixes down the ground. And, by the time he was caught by James Hockley trying to slap another ball over the fence, the match was all but won.