Frustrated Scotland coach Peter Drinnen was left scratching his head after another under-par performance by his players saw them hammered by South Africa.

The Proteas, still smarting from a failure to reach the Super League, thrashed the Scots attack for 337-8, the highest total of the tournament, before routing the Associate side for 152.

That gave South Africa a thumping 185-run win and afterwards Drinnen was far from happy with what he had seen from his players.

"I believe we have got a strong side but how can I keep saying that when we lose as we did today?" he asked.

"I cannot bat and bowl for them and some individuals need to take a look at themselves because at the moment they are not accepting the challenge.

"Our batting has always been a concern (on this trip) and once again it has proven to be the case here and the batsmen have not lived up their billings.

"At the moment we are seeing poor application and poor discipline and that concerns me," he added.

Things started to go wrong for Scotland almost from the start as man-of-the-match Jean Symes (63) and Pieter Daneel (59) starting the carnage by adding 134 for the first wicket in rapid time.

Then later on captain Dean Elgar (86) and vice-captain Richard Levi (51) weighed in and the Scots were given a severe grilling in hot and humid conditions.

Elgar's innings spanned just 74 balls with ten fours but it was Levi's effort that really took the game away from Scotland.

He clobbered his runs from just 23 balls with five fours and four sixes and although Scotland captain Kasaim Farid used nine bowlers in a desperate bid to establish some sort of control he struggled to achieve it.

Moneeb Iqbal emerged with the best figures as he took 3-47 in a full ten-over ration while the other wicket-takers were Farid (1-37 in three expensive overs), Rajeev Routray (1-48 in nine overs) and Richard Berrington (1-36 in eight overs).

"We approached the game with a killer instinct," said South Africa captain Dean Elgar.

"Our instinct was not to give the Scots anything and thankfully our batsmen did the business."

Gordon Goudie, fit again after missing the defeat to Namibia with a back injury, hit 59 from 70 deliveries as an opener to give Scotland hope but from 74-1 they slid very quickly to defeat with three middle-order ducks.

They slipped to 102-8 at one point before Iqbal (12), Calum MacLeod (16) and Tyler Buchan (22 not out) added the smallest amount of gloss to a bitterly disappointing day for the Associate side.

Scotland are still searching for their first win of the tournament and will now play Uganda in the Plate Championship play-off semi-final on Friday.

And looking forward to that fixture Drinnen said: "I am not worried about whether we win or lose but what I want to see is an improvement in performances both individually and collectively.

"Players have got to step up to the plate and if they do not then they have to realise they are kissing big honours down the tubes," he added.