A THIRD consecutive win over county opposition was a landmark for Scotland yesterday, courtesy of Ryan Watson, who scored his first hundred since plundering a century off the Somerset attack in 43 balls in the National League three years ago.

This time Derbyshire were subjected to a protracted demonstration of the 29-year-old’s batting skills as he made 108 not out from 110 balls, with nine fours and four sixes, in steering Scotland to victory with 9.4 overs to spare.

Scotland seized their chance after Derbyshire were put in and suffered the poorer batting conditions on a damp pitch. They clambered from 43 for five to 180 all out only through the efforts of Graeme Welch and Ant Botha, while Scotland bowled tightly and prospered on the flamboyant stroke play of Watson and Ian Stanger, his collaborator in a second wicket partnership of 119 in 25 overs.

The playing area had been so wet that the ground staff had worked throughout Saturday until 9pm and resumed mopping up operations at 5am yesterday. Tom Sears, the Derbyshire chief executive, had already telephoned the ECB about their sodden ground last week. He said: “The surface was so saturated that it was impossible to get equipment out to the middle and as a result, the pitch was under prepared.”

Derbyshire suffered the consequences as Dewald Nel and Ian Moran exploited the available movement by both taking three for 35, Michael Di Venuto being out to the seventh ball of the match when turning a catch at bootlace height to square leg. That was the initial exception to the leg-before dismissals and stump stirring activities that a combination of Nel, Moran and the admirable Paul Hoffman inflicted on Derbyshire, whose predicament could have been even worse.

Welch, on five, edged a slip catch to Corey Richards, one of Scotland’s two overseas players from Australia, with the score at 48 for five and moved on to 39 off 84 balls. The sixth-wicket partnership between Welch and Botha added 88 in 26 overs as conditions eased. Botha was the top scorer with 42 from 92 balls before being bowled leg stump by Ross Lyons, 21.

When Scotland batted, Chris Taylor, in the gully, fumbled a sharp chance offered by Richards but he was immediately taken at mid-wicket before Watson and Stanger assumed control. Derbyshire prised out Stanger, whose 40 from 79 balls did not include a boundary, but Watson advanced imperiously, completing his half-century and hundred in the grand manner with sixes off Andy Gray and Botha.

Watson played few false strokes, once mistiming a pull, on 42, that fell just short of Hassan Adnan at mid on but by then he had hooked Welch onto the pavilion roof and taken 15 runs in all off the bowler’s fourth over. Mo Sheikh soon suffered along with him.

After victories over Worcestershire and Northamptonshire in abbreviated matches at The Grange, this month, this was Scotland’s first win on English soil in the revamped competition.