Bermuda and Denmark both claimed surprise victories on the second day of action at the ICC Trophy 2005.
Despite the absence of captain Clay Smith, Bermuda bounced back from its opening day defeat to Ireland to beat UAE by 30 runs in Lisburn.
After being put into bat, Bermuda were struggling on 158 for 7 when Lionel Cann joined wicketkeeper Dean Minors at the crease. An explosive 45 off 17 balls from Cann, supported by 41 from 37 from Minors, spirited Bermuda to 217 for 9 from 50 overs.
The UAE reply began in solid fashion until a match-winning series of interventions from Bermuda's heavyweight spinner Dwayne 'Sluggo' Leverock. The left-armer took 3 for 34 and two slip catches as UAE collapsed from 67 for 1 to 84 for 6. A 64-run contribution from Fahad Usman was not enough to bring UAE back into contention and they were all out for 187.
Skipper Smith is expected to be fit for Bermuda's crucial group game against Denmark on Tuesday.
DENMARK UPSET USA
Denmark produced the biggest shock of the opening two rounds of the ICC Trophy in following up their opening day victory over Uganda with a comprehensive 103-run defeat of USA.
Denmark took full advantage of batting first, intelligently stretching an aging USA side by working the ball around the field. Frederik Klokker carried his bat in hitting his maiden international century while skipper Carsten Pedersen contributed 64 valuable runs to the total of 273 for 7 in 50 overs.
In reply, the USA never recovered from a poor start and were all out for 177 runs.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Klokker is due to travel to England for a trial with Warwickshire on Sunday night after performing well with the gloves in an earlier trial with the county side.
Klokker has spent the last three-and-a-half years on the staff at Marylebone Cricket Club and has a tough choice to make between following his long-term dream of breaking into professional cricket or staying in Ireland to try and help his country qualify for the ICC Cricket World Cup.
Hosts Ireland maintained their positive start to the event with a comfortable 127-run victory over Uganda. Ireland's total of 231 for 8 was built on solid innings from Ed Joyce (40) and Eoin Morgan (39) with Andrew White top-scoring with 45.
Uganda were quickly in trouble in their reply, slumping to 30 for 7. A 59-run contribution from Frank Nsubuga added a degree of respectability to Uganda's final score of 104 all out from 32 overs.
SMITH SHINES FOR SCOTLAND
Scotland batsman Colin Smith provided a perfect tonic to his teammates before returning to Scotland for police duties during the G8 Summit. Smith top-scored in Scotland's seven-wicket victory over Canada at Bangor with 86 not out.
After winning the toss, Scotland's bowlers took full advantage of the morning moisture in the fast Bangor pitch to restrict Canada to 189 for 8 in their 50 overs.
A strong breeze dried out the pitch out by the time Scotland came to bat. Despite losing two wickets without scoring and a third with the score on 37, Smith and opener Fraser Watts remained calm and safely guided their side to victory with Watts finishing on 81 not out.
The other two matches in Group B were one-sided victories for Holland and Namibia.
Opener Bas Zuiderent hit 119 while Daan van Bunge made 92 as Holland scored 325 for 4. Oman were unable to deal with Holland's pace attack and crumbled to 67 all out.
Namibia's 98 run victory over Papua New Guinea was also convincing with JB Burger and Kola Burger both hitting half-centuries and Serel Burger grabbing three wickets.
