A defiant unbeaten century from Neil McCallum rescued Scotland from embarrassment on day one of their ICC Intercontinental Cup final against Afghanistan in Dubai.

McCallum's knock of 104 not out off 221 balls came across an innings in which Richie Berrington and Simon Smith were the only other men to reach double figures.

Wicketkeeper and number 10 batsman Smith was the only man who managed to join with McCallum in resisting the Afghanistan onslaught, with the pair putting on 107 for the penultimate wicket.

Earlier, skipper Gordon Drummond had won the toss and decided to bat first, but Drummond's decision did not going according to plan, with Scotland under pressure from the onset.

Openers Preston Mommsen (three) and Fraser Watts (five) were back in the pavilion inside the first six overs, and they were soon followed by Kyle Coetzer, who didn't trouble the scorers.

Berrington (29) and McCallum began to rebuild the innings before the former became the first of Mirwais Ashraf's three victims, with the score on just 51.

Ashraf then dismissed Gregor Maiden (three) and Mathhew Parker (nine) in quick succession to leave the Scots reeling at 80 for six. Matters didn't immediately improve, with Drummond's men reduced further to 97 for eight before McCallum was joined at the crease by Smith.

The pair slowly nudged the Scots first past the 100-run mark and then the 200-run mark before Smith was dismissed for 36 by Hammid Hassan.

Hassan then took care of the last man in, Ross Lyons, to complete his five-wicket haul and leave Scotland all out for 212 and McCallum stranded on 104.

The Scots were able to make some headway into the Afghanistan order early, with Shabir Noori (11) bowled by Parker, as Nawroz Mangal's men finished the day on 18 for one.

The two teams are competing to be the best non-Test playing nation, a title Scotland held in 2004 after winning the inaugural edition of the tournament.