Another step along the comeback trail for Andrew Flintoff, but the way in which Scotland laid down and died against the Lancashire seam attack made it another afternoon of frustration for him. No sooner had he got into his stride than the match was over, Scotland's pitiful target passed in little more than 11 overs.

He bowled tidily enough, though he was the only member of the Lancashire pace attack not to pick up a wicket. By the time he arrived at the crease in the sixth over, his side needed only 44 more runs to win, removing any hope of a substantial innings.

Still, it was another run out for the England all-rounder who, realising his team needed only six to win, took a couple of moments over a fresh guard before bashing the ball straight past Dewald Nel, the bowler. It was still rising as it crossed the boundary before sailing over the wall at the end of the ground and into the next-door park.

It was had taken him only five further overs to get to the target with help from Stuart Law, but his 27 was still the highest score of the match and must have done his confidence the world of good even though the man of the match award went to Tom Smith, for his three wickets in the Scotland innings.

The reality was that Flintoff's team-mates had taken a firm grip on the match in the opening over and never let it go, and the main man was another England hopeful, James Anderson, who found plenty of swing under the bright Scottish spring sun, and started the panic among the home batsmen that saw three of them stupidly run themselves out and hand the initiative to Lancashire.

Only Majid Haq, who is about to go for a trial with Warwickshire, offered any real resistance, but with only two other Scottish batsmen getting into double figures while five were dismissed for one or zero, it was never a proper contest and Flintoff will need a bigger stage to prove himself on.

Scoreboard

Scotland

E J M Cowan b Anderson0

D F Watts run out10

*R R Watson c Sutton b Chapple4

C J O Smith c Sutton b Anderson0

G M Hamilton run out1

N F I McCallum c Sutton b Smith4

J A R Blain lbw b Croft11

R M Haq lbw b Smith23

G D Drummond run out1

J D Nel c Sutton b Smith6

G Goudie not out1

Extras (lb 2, w 10) 12

Total (37 overs) 73

Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-7, 3-17, 4-19, 5-21, 6-24, 7-45, 8-47, 9-71.

Bowling: Anderson 8-1-19-2; Chapple 4-2-6-1; Flintoff 7-1-14-0; Smith 7-2-14-3; Croft 7-1-10-1; Marshall 4-1-8-0.

Lancashire

M B Loye c Smith b Nel9

G D Cross c Watson b Nel19

*S G Law not out14

A Flintoff not out27

Extras (lb 1, w 2, nb 2) 5

Total (2 wkts, 11.5 overs) 74

M J Chilton, T C Smith, L D Sutton, S J Croft, S J Marshall, G Chapple and J M Anderson did not bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-30.

Bowling: Blain 5-0-24-0; Nel 5.5-0-33-2; Goudie 1-0-16-0.

Umpires: B Dudleston and B Leadbeater.

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