Scotland has defeated Canada by a margin of twelve runs here in Toronto today to gain an important early edge on its rivals in the race for ICC Trophy 2001 honours. In a dour fight, the pre-tournament favourites held on to win a game that was tightly contested all day and which was played amid a great atmosphere at the Maple Leaf Cricket Club complex.

The pitch at King City appeared to play well but both teams found the task of scoring runs quickly an arduous one. Before Canadian spinners John Davison (2/43) and Barry Seebaran (1/32) were eventually able to disrupt their progress, it was the batting of Scotland's upper order in such a context which went a long way to settling the contest. Openers Douglas Lockhart (46) and Bruce Patterson (40) each played well as they crafted an invaluable 86-run stand. Exciting young all-rounder Drew Parsons (42) also made a strong impression.

Albeit that they were pinned down for much of their innings by the attack widely regarded as the best in the competition, the Canadians continued to eat into the Scots' score of 201/8 in dogged style. But the lack of any individual contributions better than the 36 provided by Muneeb Diwan sowed the seeds of their demise. The host nation fell to its defeat when its tail was not quite able to atone for the lack of a sizeable individual contribution from any of its top order players. Brilliant catching - as well as fine bowling from the likes of James Brinkley (2/34), Craig Wright (2/22) and Greig Williamson (3/22) - saw the Scots home.

Elsewhere, it was Papua New Guinea's shock eight run win over the United States that stole most of the attention.

All-rounder Navu Maha (42 and 4/42) emerged as the hero in a game that tested the nerves of both sides and held the attention of a captivated crowd throughout. It was his mix of controlled and cavalier strokeplay that had assumed a key role in lifting the Papua New Guineans to their respectable total of 216/9 from their allotted overs and, not satisfied with that effort, he then returned to wreak even more havoc with the ball.

Led by David Wallace (61), the Americans had looked to be in command at a scoreline of 104/2 at one point. But, once Maha removed him and then followed that breakthrough by snaring another three key scalps, his team began to take the upper hand. The outpouring of emotion among the Papua New Guinean players and coaching staff that followed the victory told its own tale about how much the result meant in a group that has already produced a healthy share of unexpected results.

Ajax staged a slightly more uninspiring match as Ireland prevailed by a comfortable eight wicket margin against Hong Kong. Dyutish Chudhuri (53) and Rahul Sharma (42) produced composed hands for Hong Kong as matters began but the middle and lower order fell away badly.

Ireland's pursuit of a victory target of 194 was measured and disciplined throughout. Jason Molins (81*) produced the day's highest score and was well supported by the in-form Ed Joyce (51) and Dominick Joyce (46) as his side recorded a regulation victory with twenty deliveries still available.

Singapore again suffered from a lack of starch in its batting as it fell to a five-wicket defeat at the hands of the United Arab Emirates. Kiran Deshpande (35) and Zubin Schroff (34) forged a solid 53-run partnership for the fifth wicket but wickets fell with too much consistency for anything more than a total of 191/9 to be assembled.

The match was still in the balance as three early wickets fell - two of them to the medium pace of Josh Dearing (2/66). Off spinner Sunder Mani (0/15) also bowled with superb economy. But Mohammad Nadeem (63) and the ever-consistent all-rounder Khuram Khan (57*) safely negotiated the middle stages of the UAE's innings and guided their team to a leisurely five-wicket victory by the end.

Malton's first game of the tournament produced a convincing nine-wicket win for Namibia over Germany. In warm weather, the Namibians had entered their first game in this year's Trophy competition the hottest of hot favourites and they honoured the tag throughout.

The bowling of the Africans' medium pacers was both miserly and accurate and the Germans found few answers as they stumbled toward a total of 105. The Europeans exacted one small measure of revenge when crack opener Riaan Walters (14) fell to a brilliant overhead catch at mid off but Daniel Keulder (52*) and JB Berger (38) then completed the job in such style that there were still close to thirty overs still available by the time the match met its end in early afternoon.

Argentina ensured that it will record its best-ever ICC Trophy performance here in Canada when it made it two wins from two matches with its four-wicket success over East and Central Africa at Ross Lord. It took the South Americans until five deliveries from the finish to complete their pursuit of a total of 212/9. But, once they had overcome an East and Central African top order that moved the score to 155/2 at one point, it was a generally well-controlled victory.

The batting of Donald Forrester (65), Alejandro Ferguson (51) and Guillermo Kirschbaum (44) was particularly important in setting up the win.

France and Israel had been expected to produce a close battle at Eglinton Flats and neither let the pundits down. Albeit that France held the upper hand for most of the day - particularly after they had disrupted a stubborn opening stand of 58 runs between Yefeth Nagavkar (47) and Jaiswar Mahendrakumar (29) at the start of proceedings - it remained a close and exciting game.

Inspired by a fine innings from Simon Hewitt (52), the Frenchmen eventually claimed their victory by a margin of three wickets and with an over left to spare.

© 2001 CricInfo Ltd