THE hardy souls who braved a temperature of 8C (47F) when the match started were treated to some rumbustious Warwickshire hitting that brought 30 fours and 13 sixes.

Neil Carter hammered a superb maiden one-day hundred, off just 68 balls, and with Nick Knight batting through the innings for a typically skilful 128 off 134 balls, Scotland’s disappointing attack conceded their biggest total, 352, in 50-over cricket.

If conditions were miserable for fielding in the morning, Scotland elected to bowl first, hoping no doubt for some early movement.

It was too cold, however, even for a white ball to swing and neither was there much deviation off the seam. Carter, hitting on the up, timed the ball beautifully, amassing 16 fours and eight sixes. The latter came from a mixture of pick-ups, slog-sweeps and Sanath Jayasuriya-like slashes.

Carter had just crashed his first six, off Dewald Nel, when, in the same over, he skied a steepler of a catch to Ian Stanger at cover. Perhaps losing the ball against the grey cloud cover, the former Leicestershire all-rounder did not even lay a finger on the ball.

Carter, 26 at the time, charged to 50 off 39 balls, hitting successive offerings from Ian Moran, one of two Australian overseas players in the Scotland side, for 4, 4, 6, 4.

When Carter was finally given out leg-before to a ball that TV replays showed had pitched outside leg stump, his 135 out of an opening stand of 181 in 24.3 overs had taken only 87 balls.

Knight, who struck three sixes himself, received belligerent support from Ian Trott, who cracked a 41-ball fifty. Together, they plundered 112 from the last 12 overs.

Dougie Brown, who will be playing for Scotland in the World Cup next year, removed two of his compatriots, including Ryan Watson, caught at slip for a plucky 30-ball 40. Stanger completed a solid 75-ball fifty before Michael Powell ran him out, and Corey Richards, of New South Wales, contributed 56 off 59 balls.