A sensational hat-trick from Denmark's Soren Vestergaard headlined another set of impressive returns for bowlers on the fifth day of competition here at the ICC Trophy tournament in Toronto. It was late in the day when Vestergaard crashed through the United States' lower order to set up a convincing 101-run victory and the trend of low scoring had already been well established around the grounds by that point.

As continuing affirmation of ball's dominance over bat became very much the order of the day, so the Netherlands' aspirations in the tournament received another major shot in the arm. By virtue of a tremendous bowling performance, the Dutchmen stunned host nation Canada on a bouncy pitch at Ross Lord, humbling their opponents for a total of 95. Before John Davison (32) swung the bat lustily and usefully, the Canadians crashed to a disastrous 50/8 at one stage, at the hands principally of Tim de Leede (4/23) and Jacob-Jan Esmeijer (4/26).

In daring style and with little to lose, the Canadians imaginatively opened the bowling with the off spin of Davison (0/27) and followed it with the left arm orthodox skills of the ever-economical Barry Seebaran (1/13). Medium pacer Sanjay Thuraisingham (2/26) also kept things tight. Ultimately, though, there were simply not enough runs in the bank for the locals once de Leede (29*) and Roger Bradley (25*) joined forces.

The USA's chances of staying in a high position in its group suffered a major setback when its batting collapsed late in the afternoon in the match against Denmark at Ross Lord. Chasing a score of 171/8, the Americans made a cautious start but then imploded, losing five wickets on the same score in the space of nine deliveries. More generally, they lost seven wickets for the addition of only twenty runs in an horrific collapse punctuated by the exciting feat achieved by Vestergaard (3/11).

Earlier, handy contributions from Mickey Lund (43*), Aftab Ahmed (35) and Lars Andersen (32*) had featured in the Danes' exhibition with the bat. Donovan Blake (3/30) and Nasir Islam (2/23) again starred with the ball for the United States, albeit that their contributions later became blurred as their team crashed toward its heavy defeat.

Exceptional bowling from off spinner Gregor Maiden (4/8) and belligerent batting from Asim Butt (37) lifted Scotland to its third-straight victory in the tournament, this one a hard-working five-wicket triumph over the United Arab Emirates at Sunnybrook.

Opener Babar Malik (30) and the ever-consistent Khuram Khan (29) applied themselves well for the UAE but the Scots maintained a very firm hold over the scoring rate for the majority of the opening session. Complementing Maiden's astounding economy, James Brinkley (3/25) also maintained metronomically good line and length.

The Scots were then made to work exceptionally hard for their runs, struggling to 44/3 off the opening nineteen overs of their reply to a score of 119. It was at that point that Butt's cavalier hitting altered the direction of the game, four cracking sixes - albeit that one of them was assisted by an expensive dropped catch - helping to substantially accelerate the run-scoring rate.

Stylish opener Riaan Walters (61*) continued his run of excellent personal form as Namibia sauntered to an eight-wicket win over Nepal at Eglinton Flats.

Nepal won the toss and batted first but struggled against some scintillating pace bowling from Bjorn Kotze (4/37) and Rudolf van Vuuren (0/20) with the new ball. In one of the day's few displays of resolute defensive application, Jay Sarraf (47*) played an important stabilising role but decisive scoring momentum was a commodity largely absent from a Nepalese innings which extended no further than a score of 131/7.

Gavin Murgatroyd (51*) then joined with Walters as the Namibians safely negotiated their passage to a leisurely second win in the space of three days. With just Gibraltar left to play, the Africans are now very well poised to secure the all-important top place in their group by the time the opening round of matches comes to a close.

Having survived a baptism of fire in its previous matches - against Scotland and the Netherlands - Fiji registered its first win of the tournament with a convincing 86-run win over Singapore at Malton. The Fijians had struggled in each of their opening matches with the bat and did so to an extent again through the early stages of today's encounter, falling to 77/5 at one stage.

But the succession of useful middle and lower order contributions that were headed by Taione Batina (39) swelled the total of 171 and the team's bowlers soon proved that it was an eminently defendable score. Josh Dearing (30) again crafted another attractive innings for Singapore but the bottom fell out of the exhibition once all-rounder Neil Maxwell (5/10) set to work. The last eight wickets crashed for a total of just 40 runs as Maxwell secured for himself the best bowling average of any player to this point of the tournament.

The most exciting finish on a day of generally clear-cut results came at Eglinton Flats' second ground, where Germany produced a withering finish to defeat Gibraltar by three wickets and secure the country's first ever victory in ICC Trophy competition. The Germans' success was attributable largely to Gerrit Mueller (110), whose production of the competition's fourth century ensured that his side was able to wrest back the initiative by scoring in excess of seven runs per over on a consistent basis during the closing twenty overs of the contest.

Gibraltar had also batted impressively earlier in the day as it raced to a score of 243/6 from its quota of overs. On a pitch that continued to play truly throughout the game, Tim Buzaglo (89) and captain Christian Rocca (76) were the shining lights in the construction of what, for a long period, looked like a winning score.

Despite being preceded at King City by an advertising billboard that announced their team name as 'Iceland', Ireland's players announced their presence in style on the way to a crushing eight-wicket victory over Bermuda with more than twenty overs to spare.

On a pitch that contained significant early moisture, the Irish bowlers seamed the ball prodigiously and gained alarming bounce to reduce their opponents to a dismal 44/7 at one stage. New ball bowlers Paul Mooney (4/17) and Adrian McCoubrey (3/28) combined expertly, albeit that the side's performance was tarnished by the concession of an extravagant 26 wides.

Chasing 115, the Irishmen encountered few difficulties; Peter Davy (44) and Ed Joyce (21*) the standouts in producing a result that leaves the race for the top spots in Group 1B wide open.

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