Dubai: Fielding lapses cost the UAE the first match of the ICC World Cricket League against Scotland at Edinburg ground on Sunday. Put into bat by the UAE, Scotland posted a whopping 327 for five in 50 overs through an unbeaten 111 from their captain Preston Mommsen and 127 from their vice-captain and opener Kyle Coetzer.

UAE found the target too tough to chase and folded up for 229 to hand over a 98 runs victory to Scotland.

Scotland would have lost an early wicket in the third over had Mohammad Shahzad not spilt an easy catch at long leg from opener Craig Wallace off Mohammad Naveed. Scotland made the most of it and the result was a 78-run opening partnership between Wallace and Coetzer that set the stage for a huge score.

If not for UAE’s left-arm spinner Ahmad Raza, who bowled brilliantly giving away just 28 runs from his 10 overs and taking the wickets of Wallace for 16 and No. 3 batsman Calum MacLeod for 20, Scotland would have posted even a bigger total.

Raza would have got the wicket of Coetzer too on his score at 73 but Naveed at short fine leg dropped the chance.

Coetzer went on to hit 127 runs from 121 balls with 14 boundaries and one six. Mommsen accelerated the run flow with 111 from 101 balls with nine boundaries.

Speaking to Gulf News from Edinburgh, UAE skipper Amjad Javed said: “Dropped catches cost us the match. Had we taken those catches we could have been chasing a total of only around 270 runs and being a fine batting wicket, we could have reached the target.”

UAE began their chase brilliantly with opener Rohan Mustafa cracking 43 off 47 balls with five fours and a six and Laxman Sreekumar scoring 28 runs with six boundaries. Together they put on 72 runs in just 11.3 overs before Alasdair Evans struck repeatedly.

Evans had Sreekumar caught behind and Mustafa, who fell to a brilliant diving catch at point by Richie Berrington. UAE’s star batsman Shaiman Anwar too fell for nine. Though skipper Javed tried to lift UAE out of trouble through a breezy 32 off 19 balls with three sixes and two boundaries, they fell short of the target. “We will fix the mistakes and move forward. We are a good team and we want to show in the next game,” added Javed.

The second match will be held at the same venue on Tuesday.

Brief scores: Scotland beat UAE by 98 runs. Scotland 327 for five in 50 overs (Kyle Coetzer 127, Preston Mommsen 111 n.o, Ahmad Raza 2 for 28) vs UAE 229 in 43.3 overs (Rohan Mustafa 43, Laxman Sreekumar 28, Mohammad Shahzad 28, Mohammad Usman 34, Amjad Javed 32, Alasdair Evans 4 for 41).