IF THERE were any Flying Scotsmen in action at The Grange in Edinburgh yesterday they were quickly shunted into the sidings by the Rawalpindi Express.

Scotland's hopes of overhauling Durham's 267 for seven hit the buffers in Shoaib Akhtar's second and third overs as he took two wickets in each.

The only chance of avoiding humiliation seemed to lie with Indian Test star Rahul Dravid, but off the first ball of the sixth over he lost his middle stump as Neil Killeen nipped one back to leave the Scots reeling on six for five.

This prompted a trawl through the record books to find that the lowest score in the competition was 23 by Middlesex at Headingley in 1974. But after taking four for four in 11 balls, Shoaib's slower ball, a full toss, was whipped past square leg for four by Colin Smith and the Pakistani went into macho mode, bowling short from round the wicket.

He was rested after six overs with four for 24 and although Mark Davies nipped in with two wickets to make it 32 for seven, the Scots were allowed to pass the lowest 45-over total against Durham, the 87 made by Derbyshire at Darlington three years ago.

Saving face was the only aim for Scotland captain Craig Wright and he had put on 65 with Majid Haq by the time Shoaib returned.

But the momentum had gone and he bowled a no-ball and a wide to bring up the hundred, and failed to break the stand in his last three overs, finishing with four for 34.

Haq drove Nicky Phillips over long-on and swept him for four to take the partnership to 90 and as Durham had Australian spin bowling coach Ashley Mallett with him, it appeared that his words of wisdom had had a detrimental effect on Phillips. But he held a return catch to get rid of Wright for 43 and had the last two men caught at deep mid-wicket as Scotland were all out for 153 to lose by 114 runs.

Haq, with a previous best score of 16 not out, completed a 61-ball half-century and remained unbeaten on 55.

Although Durham had failed to turn the screw, coach Martyn Moxon said: "What we lack as a team is winning matches, so if Shoaib can win us a few games it will be good for our confidence."

Gordon Muchall's best one-day score of 87 provided the backbone of Durham's total, which was their highest in the National League since making 275 for three against Nottinghamshire at Riverside a year ago.

It was exactly 100 more than they managed in their embarrassing home defeat on the Scots' debut in the competition two months ago.

Well as Durham batted, it was Shoaib who enlivened a grey, blustery day on the pleasant club ground, also hitting a huge six over long-off into the Inverleith Nurseries.

Wicketkeeper Phil Mustard stood halfway to the boundary and had to leap to take the Pakistani's sixth ball high above his head.

Given the speed at which the ball travels off the bat, there was little wonder that Ashley Thorpe celebrated joyously when he held two catches at second slip off the world's fastest bowler.

Thorpe's euphoria probably had as much to do with not breaking any fingers as hanging on to the catches.

In less than sparkling light, the other two victims were simply beaten for pace and bowled, with South African Jon Kent - the only paid player other than Dravid - going first ball.

To save costs in the largely amateur set-up, in which James Brinkley travels from Worcester to play, this was the second of three home games in four days for the Saltires.

After winning three of the first five, nobody is taking them lightly any more, even on the homely Edinburgh ground where the convivial atmosphere was spoilt only by the music.

After each boundary a few bars of some unidentifiable pop music would come bursting over the speakers, which seemed rather pointless as there were few youngsters in the crowd of 600-700.

Durham chose to bat and were never under any pressure, especially as Haq, the off-spinner who did the damage at Riverside, was given only five overs.

He deceived Vince Wells through the air to bowl him for 41 in his second over, but was removed with figures of one for 30 to make way for a return to the diet of dull medium pace. Despite his obvious talent with the ball, it is said that Haq has not attracted first-class interest because he can't bat or field. But he looked competent enough yesterday, despite being granted two lives as Thorpe spilled a slip chance off Wells and Mustard fumbled a stumping chance off Phillips.

Nicky Peng gave Durham a good start, leaning into a number of perfectly-timed straight drives as he made 46 of the first 68 runs.

He lost Mustard for three in the fourth over when former Durham bowler Brinkley moved one away from the left-hander to have him caught at the wicket.

Content to play second fiddle with Peng in full flow, Wells waited five overs before getting off the mark with a lofted cover drive.

The Scots' lack of bowling resources was evident as they introduced the gentle medium pace of Greig Williamson for their first change and Peng immediately drove successive balls to the extra cover boundary.

He fell in the 15th over, the first bowled by home skipper Craig Wright, whose height allowed him to extract a little extra bounce and induce an edge to slip.

Wells took command, driving and cutting Haq for two fours before the off-spinner bowled him, but there was no slackening of the run rate as Muchall and Gary Pratt put on 91 in 16 overs.

While Muchall drove well, hitting nine fours and a six over long-on in his 97-ball innings, Pratt skilfully worked the gaps in making 37 off 41 balls with only two fours. Their speedy running was also a feature of their stand.

Pratt clubbed a return catch to Kent in the 40th over then Thorpe and Shoaib made brisk contributions before Muchall was bowled by the last ball of the innings.

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