Dravid's 81 in vain

India vice-captain Rahul Dravid's elegant 81 went in vain as English county minnows Scotland crashed to a seven-wicket defeat against Hampshire in a National League one-day match at the Rose Bowl on Monday.

Put in to bat first, Scotland scored 225 for 5 wickets in the allotted 45 overs, with Dravid, who had played a crucial  role in his team's maiden National League triumph on Sunday, scoring his runs from 99 balls with the help of eight boundaries.

Dravid, who steadied Scotland's innings which was at one stage reeling at 65 for three, put on 103 runs for the fourth wicket with South Africa's Jon Kent (78 not out).

Hampshire, who handed a debut to Sri Lankan import Chaminda Vaas, cruised to victory, losing three wickets and  with six balls to spare.

It was an ideal start for Vaas, who arrived on Sunday as a replacement for Wasim Akram. After Scotland had been put in, Vaas struck with his 12th ball, trapping Dougie Lockhart with a trademark nip-backer. He also gave away 31 runs from nine overs to emerge Hampshire's most economical bowler.

He almost added Dravid, but the umpires turned down a caught behind appeal on the ground that the nick did not carry to the wicketkeeper.

Dravid, four at the time, went on to make 81 before top-edging a reverse sweep off Shaun Udal to Vaas.

The home side got off to a good start and though Craig Wright found himself on a hat-trick in the 12th over of the  reply, well-paced unbeaten half-centuries from the John Crawley (83) and J Francis (62), steered Hampshire home.