July 05, 2008	Saturday	Rajab 1, 1429

ABERDEEN (Scotland), July 4: New Zealand rounded off their tour of the United Kingdom with an eight-wicket thrashing of Scotland in a tri-nation limited-overs series match that gave them the associates series victory at the Mannofield Park here on Thursday.

In a match that again exposed the gap in class between cricket’s elite Test nations and the rest, New Zealand, after electing to field first, bowled their hosts out for 101 with Jacob Oram (3-13) and Grant Elliott (3-14) doing the bulk of the damage.

Ross Taylor’s 61 not out (off 41 balls) with two sixes and eight fours, saw New Zealand to their target of 102 for the loss of two wickets inside 15 overs, the Black Caps winning with more than 35 overs to spare.

Earlier, Scotland were bowled out inside 34 overs meaning that a match scheduled for 100 overs saw the players on the field for just 48 in all.

Defeat denied Scotland a place on the official one-day rankings following their five-wicket win over Ireland on Wednesday. New Zealand overwhelmed Ireland by a record 290 runs on Monday.

Summarised score: Scotland 101 (M.Q. Sheikh 18, G. Goudie 17; Oram 3-13, Elliott 3-14) lost to New Zealand 102-2 (L.R. Taylor 61, B.B. McCullum 22).--Agencies