SCOTLAND�s World Cup qualification hopes suffered a setback yesterday when they fell to a four-wicket defeat against the UAE at the Sharjah Stadium.

The Saltires went into their latest World Cricket League Championship encounter with an unblemished record of four wins from four.

However, hopes of joining Ireland at the top of the eight-team table were dashed by a top order batting collapse which left Gordon Drummond�s side playing catch-up.

Defending a flimsy total of 167, the Saltires battled back bravely with a double wicket burst from Gordon Goudie and one from Saffy Sharif.

And, when home skipper Khurram Khan was run out by Sharif, the Arabs had been reduced to 35-4 and hopes were high that this resilient Scottish side could force an unlikely win.

Instead an 82-run stand between Shaiman Anwar and Swapnil Patil grabbed the initiative for the hosts.

Anwar was eventually dismissed for 58 by Richie Berrington who claimed a second wicket to remove Vikrant Shetty.

However, by then the damage had been done and Patil�s 99-ball unbeaten 55 carried the UAE to victory with thirteen deliveries remaining.

Earlier, the Saltires suffered a series of early blows as the Arabs� ploy of using spinner Shadeep Silva to open the bowling paid handsome rewards.

The 33 year-old Sri Lankan-born bowler made the breakthrough in the seventh over when he had Calum MacLeod caught at mid-off.

Silva struck an even bigger blow in his next over when he trapped the in-form Kyle Coetzer lbw for 17.

Sadly this set the tone for Scotland�s top order to produce one of their most disappointing performances of recent times.

A brace of run outs which accounted for Preston Mommsen and Josh Davey did nothing to aid the cause and, at 93-6, the visitors were in danger of falling away completely.

It took a breezy knock from Craig Wallace to halt the decline, the Forfarshire youngster adding 56 with Majid Haq.

Wallace�s top-score of 40 included three boundaries and a six, while Haq weighed-in with 30 before being the third run-out victim.

However, their departure sparked a second collapse with the last four wickets falling for just 18 runs while, criminally, the Scots failed to use up the last seven deliveries of their allocation.

Coach Pete Steindl said: �We played a poor game of cricket � pure and simple � and there is no way we deserved to win.

�We were up against it after making elementary mistakes with the bat especially our running between the wickets. Three run-outs says it all!

�I can�t fault the effort in the field and we fought back well to get a few early wickets.

�But after such a lacklustre batting display there was no way we could exert continued pressure unless we kept taking wickets.

�At the end of the day we simply didn�t put a big enough total on the board and it�s extremely disappointing.�

The sides meet again tomorrow (Fri) when a revenge win would still see Scotland join Ireland at the top of the table.