World Cup warm-up: Scotland swept aside by Afghanistan

Scotland lost opener Calum MacLeod in the first over

Scotland suffered a crushing eight wicket defeat against Afghanistan in the first of their World Cup warm-up matches in Dubai.

With Hamish Gardiner top-scorer on 96, the Scots reached 237-8 from their 45 overs at the ICC Academy.

And the Afghans made light work of surpassing the total, reaching 240-2 in the 38th over.

Richie Berrington took both wickets as the Scottish attack came in for some punishing hitting.

Javed Ahmadi (74) and Usman Ghani (48) quickly put their side into a commanding position with an opening stand of 121 in just 17 overs.

Afsar Zazai (48 not out) and Nasir Jamal (52 not out) finished the job with minimum fuss.

Afghanistan, who Scotland will face again in Dubai, along with two matches against Ireland, are in World Cup Group A, along with the Scots, England, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and co-hosts Australia and New Zealand.

And this display illustrated just how hard it will be for Scotland to pick up a first ever World Cup victory.

"We were rusty, we looked like a side that hadn't played for seven weeks," head coach Grant Bradburn told the Cricket Scotland website.

"We need to get some grass time into our legs. We weren't accurate with execution today, particluarly with the ball."

Opener Calum MacLeod (0) lasted just three balls in a game delayed and shortened to 45 overs by fog.

Gardiner impressed with 14 fours in his innings but Kyle Coetzer (22) and Matt Machan (24) could not build on promising starts, while captain Preston Mommsen (1) and Berrington (5) did not last long.

Gardiner fell four runs short of his second ODI century for Scotland, as he chopped the ball onto his stumps from a slower ball by Dawlat Zadran.

Matt Cross (28), Michael Leask (19) and Josh Davey (22 not out) moved the Scots beyond 200 runs but the bowlers could not get close to protecting the total.