Scotland’s World Cup dream withered in the desert heat yesterday as Holland cruised to an easy eight-wicket win at the Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi.
Kyle Coetzer’s men needed to repeat last week’s group win over the Dutch to claim a final place at next year’s WorldT20 in Bangladesh.
However, despite fine half-centuries from Matt Machan and Michael Leask, their hopes of a place with cricket’s elite were dashed when they failed to defend a healthy total of 147 for six.
Skipper Coetzer said: “We are gutted not to make it through which was what we came here to do.
“We were pretty happy at half-time because batting second on this wicket hasn’t been easy and we’d have taken 147.
“But you have to hand it to Holland who I thought batted outstandingly and put us under real pressure. We just couldn’t peg it back.”
It had looked good in the first over when Neil Carter clean-bowled Stephan Myburgh.
But a stand of 67 between Ben Cooper and Wes Barresi tipped the balance in Holland’s favour.
Majid Haq raised hopes of a fightback when he deceived Cooper in the flight and Matty Cross completed the stumping to send the Aussie-born batsman on his way for 40.
But, on 83 for two at the halfway stage, Holland were firmly in control and they went into overdrive to win at a canter with 13 balls to spare.
None of the Scottish bowlers avoided punishment and even the normally economical Haq leaked 46 runs from his four overs.
Barresi led the way with a brilliant unbeaten 75 from only 47 balls, while Michael Swart supported with 30 not out.
Earlier, Scotland suffered a poor start as openers Richie Berrington and Calum MacLeod both departed for ducks.
The pair had put on two century stands earlier in the tournament but Berrington lasted just three deliveries before being bowled by Tim Gruijters.
MacLeod fared even worse, his off-stump sent cartwheeling by the first ball he faced from Mudassar Bukhari.
However, Machan and Leask provided the response Scotland needed with a superb stand of 111.
Sussex’s Machan took the lead initially but was soon overtaken by Leask, who produced a brilliant display of power-hitting.
The Stoneywood-Dyce batsman bludgeoned five mighty maximums over the same long-on area.
His maiden international half-century came from just 38 balls and he had stroked two boundaries in addition to the 6s before falling to a superb catch by Cooper off Swart.
Machan, the tournament’s top scorer, went on to complete his fourth half-century of the competition with 61.
But, like Leask, he fell to a good catch on the boundary and his dismissal meant Scotland were unable to fully exploit the final overs of their innings.
They added just 35 for four in the final five overs and it proved costly as the Dutch sensed their chance.