Men’s ICC T20 World Cup, Blundstone Arena, HobartScotland 160-5 (20 overs): Munsey 66* (53), MacLeod 23 (14); Starter 2-14, Jose 2-28West Indies 118 (18.3 overs): Headline 38 (33); Watt 3-12, Leask 2-15, Wheal 2-32Scotland won by 42 runsScorekeeper; Table
Scotland, ranked 15th in the world, started their Men’s T20 World Cup campaign in brilliant fashion by shocking two-time winners West Indies.
Chasing 161 to win, a mix of woeful batting and disciplined bowling saw the Windies eliminated by 118, to lose by 42 runs in Pool B.
Scotland made it 160-5, with starter George Munsey scoring an unbeaten 66 from 53 balls.
Zimbabwe beat Ireland by 31 runs in the last match of Group B.
“It’s a special win for us,” said Scotland captain Richard Berrington, whose team beat Bangladesh in the World Cup last year. “A lot of work has been done to get to this point in the last 12 months.
“I’m extremely proud of the guys for coming out tonight and showing off our skills.”
The result means the West Indies, who are seventh in the world rankings, will likely need to win the remaining two games to progress.
They face Zimbabwe on Wednesday (09:00 BST), while Scotland take on Ireland (05:00) knowing a win will likely see them through.
The top two teams from each group will qualify for the Super 12, which begins on October 22. The winner of Group A and the runner-up of Group B will face England.
Scotland do well, while Windies disappoint
Scotland raced to 52-0 after 5.3 overs, a vast improvement on their starting positions in last year’s tournament, where their highest score was 33, before a 45-minute rain delay halted their progress.
Windies started poorly with the ball, offering too much range, but improved a lot after the break, throwing the ball effectively down the field.
It significantly lowered the scoring rate and also brought in the wickets of Matthew Cross and Richard Berrington, as both batted flat at midfield and midfield respectively.
Munsey lacked fluidity after the delay, but held his own and reaped his rewards as he hit three bounds from the last over, having hit the previous one in the fourth over.
There were also powerful cameos from Callum MacLeod (23 of 14) and Chris Greaves (16 of 11) as Scotland dragged themselves to a defensible but potentially non-match-winning total.
As was the case last year, Windies was miserable with the bat. He felt as if he had been shot or blocked with minimal ability to rotate the blow.
They struggled particularly against Mark Watt’s left-arm spin, who regularly shot from 24 yards instead of 22, and Michael Leask’s spin, with the pair taking 3-12 and 2-15 respectively, while throwing 27 point balls. .
Bowler Brad Wheal, who was part of the Hampshire team that won the T20 Blast this summer, also played well, going 2-32.
Scotland were also flawless on the pitch, including an excellent catch from Leask, rushing in from the half-wicket limit to see off Shamarh Brooks.
Berrington added: “We knew it was a competitive score and I thought the bowlers were exceptional. The spinners have done it for us for a long time at key moments. They made a big change – it was a great all-round team.” performance.”
West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran believes 161 was a score his team should have pursued, saying: “It’s a tough loss for us, we’re disappointed.”
“We need to do the hard work now and win two games, now it’s about responsibility.”
Scotland have only played two T20s since last year’s World Cup in the United Arab Emirates, which makes their victory and consistency of skills all the more remarkable.
Batsman Callum MacLeod said: “It wasn’t a big surprise that Namibia won yesterday and we won today, that’s where we are with our cricket. We’ve all been crying out for more opportunities and it would be great to see where some of the partner nations could go if they invited us into the game from time to time.
“Wins at world events are significant, they have more. The win over Bangladesh last year was a special moment, but today was probably a better win, we probably played the best cricket from start to finish and we deserved to win.”
Source: news.google.com