Swings and roundabouts for Scots in final warm-up game
All the best cricket matches swing from one side to the other and back several times during the evolution of the final result. Scotland have ‘enjoyed’ such contests many times, but the final warm-up match before the WCQ begins in earnest was remarkable in many ways.
With both sides agreeing to use 13 players, Kenya opted to bat first, and at short notice Scotland omitted John Blain, who was nursing a niggling elbow from the previous day’s practice, and Dewald Nel, whose importance to Scotland’s plans was already established, to allow skipper Ryan Watson more opportunity to look at the youngsters. Gavin Hamilton took the gloves to allow Colin Smith and his back some precautionary work with the physio.
The Kenyans found the early stages pretty hard going in the face of the unfamiliar Gordon Goudie and Calum MacLeod, both bowling with pace, though not always controlling the white ball’s swing. MacLeod made an early breakthrough, hurrying Waters into an early drive that reached Craig Wright at ankle height at mid-off. And two overs later, in a wide-filled over, MacLeod struck again, inducing the other opener to edge a comfortable catch to Watson in the slips.
At 19 for two in the eighth over, this was a good start for Scotland, and the Kenyans were on the back foot. Watson gave Goudie the opportunity to try his hand at MacLeod’s end, but Kenya captain Steve Tikolo decided to hit his way out of trouble, with three boundaries in that over.
So the Scots youngsters were both out of the attack, giving way to the experienced Wright at one end, while Jan Stander came on at ‘the wicket end’. They bowled tidily, but with Tikolo and Ouma gaining confidence, 12 overs passed without further encouragement for the Scots.
With the score at 69 for two, Watson turned to spin in the 21st over. Majid Haq relies on a steady grinding down of opposition batsmen who become impatient to attack him, but Haq’s second over started with two uncharacteristic wide balls before Ouma misjudged the fourth and was clean bowled for 35.
At 88 for three, Moneeb Iqbal replaced Stander at the other end, but his first three overs went for 25 runs as Tikolo led the way with aggression. Then came a stunning mid-air catch at point by MacLeod to dismiss the Kenyan captain for 46 off 54 balls, the score on 125 for four after 30 overs.
By now, Iqbal had unveiled his full array of leggies and unpickable googlies, one over deceiving both batsman and wicket-keeper to produce two boundary byes. Smith took the gloves after the second drinks interval, the score on 151 for four, and Iqbal was immediately rewarded with his second wicket, Odoyo completely misjudging the flight and turn to be clean bowled (pictured right). After one more over, Iqbal was taken off, having taken 2-46 from eight overs.
At the other end, Watson took four overs to himself without result while Wright returned to the attack and immediately struck with an athletic dive to pick up an outstanding caught-and-bowled (pictured left), Kamande the victim. Four overs later, he added two more scalps, to good catches by Kyle Coetzer and Navdeep Poonia, but at 196 for eight with six overs remaining, Kenya were in the acceleration phase of their innings.
Haq replaced Watson and went for eight, including three wides. MacLeod replaced Wright and got his third wicket, destroying the stumps. And Stander had a couple of overs at the death, his last going for two sixes as Kenya raced to 243 for nine at the close of their innings.
Scotland had stuck to their task, but coach Pete Steindl would certainly expect an improvement in intensity and performance in the field when it comes to the tournament proper.
The Scots set off in pursuit of this challenging target with Watson and Hamilton, as experienced a pair as one could wish for. For six overs, they looked confident, but then Watson glided the last ball of an over into Tikolo’s hands at slip, and in the following over Coetzer offered a return catch to his very first ball.
The match had now clearly swung in Kenya’s favour. Poonia (pictured left), with plenty of advice and encouragement from Hamilton, set about rebuilding the innings with his senior partner - and by the 23rd over, they had added 72 to the scoreboard.
But Varaiya’s first over accounted for Poonia, for 38, and Smith, a rare duck, to leave the Scottish innings again in disarray at 89 for four. Neil McCallum joined Hamilton to put that behind them, and in the space of six overs added 40, including the first six of the match, McCallum driving it well over mid-on.
What followed was a needless run-out as McCallum declined Hamilton’s call (pictured right), and Qasim Sheikh came and went for a duck after facing five nerve-wracking balls from the pacey Odhiambo, Scotland now looking groggy at 133 for six with 18 overs remaining.
You should, however, never discount the value of experience, as McCallum and Wright joined forces to transform Scotland’s prospects. Running well between the wickets to keep the scoreboard ticking, the pair added 66 in 10 overs, including a slog sweep over the mid-wicket boundary by McCallum, to give the Scots real hope of pulling off a famous victory.
At 199 for six, McCallum was caught on the square leg boundary for a brilliant 70, and Stander continued the momentum with Wright by now in full flight (pictured left), with hardly a dot ball to be found. In the 48th over, however, Stander played on, the score on 232.
It should have been regulation stuff, with 12 runs needed off the final 15 balls. But the second ball of the penultimate over saw MacLeod run out, and Majid Haq’s first ball popped into Kamande’s safe hands to bring the match to a sudden and amazing finish.
