McCallum leads the way to victory against Namibia

Scotland, 267 for six, defeated Namibia, 194 all out, by 73 runs.

Scotland made a magnificent 267 for six wickets against Namibia in the second game of this World Cup Qualifying tournament at the beautiful L C de Villiers Oval in Pretoria, where the Scots had won the first two of their trainin camp matches two weeks ago.
 

And once again it was that man Neil McCallum who turned it on. He reached his second successive century, also on consecutive days, in the penultimate over, then got out for 103, including five sixes and seven fours.
 

But again it didn’t look to promising in the early overs, after Namibia had won the toss and  elected to take first use of the morning dew. Skipper Ryan Watson and particularly Gavin Hamilton were soon being targeted by the Namibian opening bowlers Gerrie Snyman and Louis Klazinga.
 

And when Snyman un leashed another sharply rising ball, it was all that Hamilton could to fend it off as it struck him hard beneath the ribs, causing him to collapse onto the grass. After ten minutes (during which, of course, the dew was rapidly receding on one of the hotter days of the South African autumn) Hamilton opted to continue, but within an over he decided to leave the field with a massive bruise, and was taken to hospital for a check-up. Fortunately, the later bulletin was that nothing untoward was seen, and Hamilton will just have to let nature take its healing course.
 

Meanwhile, Watson resumed with Coetzer, scored a lovely boundary turned through mid-wicket - then edged a sharply rising Snyman ball to first slip. Navdeep Poonia lasted only 14 balls, caught behind, and Colin Smith was unexpectedly clean bowled by Sarel Burger for nine when he had begun to look settled.
 

Scotland was once again in the batting doldrums at 48-3, with Hamilton unlikely to return from injury. Cometh the hour and - for the second day running - cometh the man, in the shape of McCallum. This time, though, there was an excellent contribution from Kyle Coetzer, who had treated the bowling with care and went on to reach a fine 68, his highest score for Scotland for five years.
 

The two batsmen complemented each other perfectly as they posted a partnership of 105, Coetzer’s skier off Snyman caught safely by Craig Williams. They had also just seen the 150 up, with McCallum gathering momentum.
 

Moneeb Iqbal was his next partner. Iqbal is a busy little batsman, scampering between the wickets and  a creative shot player. He made 16 here, but his stumps were uprooted by the pacey Klazinger. That brought Jan Stander to the crease, with the score on 193 for five, and six overs remaining.
 

McCallum and Stander have a good mutual understanding, and they accelerated the run rate throughout the last five overs. McCallum reached his hundred with a quickly-run two, remembered to remove his helmet for the photographers, and accepted the accolades. So it was something of a surprise that Klazinga wrecked his castle, too, with just five balls remaining, having added 63 in five overs with Stander.
 

Stander finished the innings off perfectly, with a nonchalant six to square leg, tucking his bat under his arm almost before the ball had touched the ground.  But would the free-hitting Namibians, who had also lost their first match, respond?
 

The die was cast by Dewald Nel, who was clearly in the mood to make an impression. He accounted for the first two wickets, and when Calum MacLeod got his first with the score on only 25, it was Namibia’s turn to rebuild.
 

But in the dressing room the Scots had  set themselves the target of dismissing five Namibians for less than 50. When Louis Burger became Gordon Goudie’s first victim, caught behind by Smith, the score was 43, and there was a yell of triumph when Goudie then broke through Craig Williams’s defence to send the stumps and bails tumbling, the score just 48 for five.
 

Scholtz was next to go, directing a leg break from Iqbal straight into the hands of Nel at point. And only then, with the entrance Snyman the gladiator, did Namibia begin to make a contest of it in earnest.
 

The partnership between Snyman and the tall, shilpit figure of Bernie Kotze yielded 56 runs before he was despatched by Goudie. With Watson rotating his bowlers shrewdly and frequently, Dion Kotze was run out by a sharp return from point by MacLeod, then  Van Zyl became MacLeod’s second wicket, this one the only lbw of the game.
 

Klazinga joined Snyman as the latter attempted to blatter his way to a century. But, with the Scottish bowlers wise to his preference for half volleys to despatch over the boundary, he was kept under control. And when Klazinga was clean bowled by an intelligent Yorker from Nel, his hundredth wicket for Scotland, it was all over, Snyman stranded on 95 not out.
 

The Scots had fought back from a poor start again, but this time there was a definite feeling of a team effort behind the sheer will to win, led by McCallum, the undoubted Man of the Match, and the first Scottish internationalist in more than 50 years to score back-to-back competitive centuries. His inspiration helped his side to recover the confidence needed to make further progress in the remainder of this competition, made all the more absorbing by the results from other grounds.

Match Commentary | Scorecard

Report by Mike Stanger