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Scotland and Ireland lose on opening day
Mike Stanger reports on a sorry display by Scotland against the USA in Abu Dhabi, but notes that Ireland, too, suffered a reverse against Afghanistan in Dubai...
So Scotland lost their first major competitive match against the USA by six wickets, with four balls to spare. In truth, it was not a good performance by the Scots until the closing overs - by which time it was too late.
Gavin Hamilton had elected to bat first, and immediately found that the pitch had uneven bounce and pace, making it difficult to score runs or time the ball. Time and again, the ball eluded the bat by either lifting or staying low, so managing to make 120, for the loss of seven wickets, was not too bad in the circumstances, though the detail of the innings makes discouraging reading.
As he so often does, Hamilton himself played the anchor role, coming in in the second over when Kyle Coetzer mistimed a drive and was caught and bowled by Shurja. Navdeep Poonia, caught behind by the lively and dreadlocked American keeper Carl Wright, and Fraser Watts, given run out in the most dubious fashion, also went in unfortunate circumstances.
But Hamilton was still there in the 15th over, on 41, when he became the fourth wicket to fall, trying a reverse sweep to a leaping ball that caught the top edge and fell onto the stumps.
Ryan Watson, batting at five, had kept him company without looking at all comfortable, even his favourite pull shot eluding him with the variable bounce. Eventually, Watson departed for 14, and Richie Berrington enjoyed a lively little partnership with Jan Stander - the latter scoring the only six of the innings - before the Greenock youngster departed bowled.
Drummond had a couple of good swipes before he became the seventh and last wicket to fall, leaving Simon Smith with Stander, which finished undefeated on 19*.
It was all just a bit desultory - perhaps the result of a tediously long and interrupted early morning journey from Dubai - but at least Scotland had a total to defend.
The question for Scotland was whether the pitch had lost its venom in the searing sun… but nobody was much the wiser on this point by the end of the game because most of the bowlers had completely lost their sense of direction, their length or any other characteristic that a bowler might seek to impose on the batsmen.
Time and again, the ball was bowled down the leg side; time and again, the American batsmen contented themselves with pushing the ball to backward square and taking a single. When the ball was pitched short - which was far too often by bowlers who should know better - it was despatched to the boundary - 11x4s and 1x6, compared to Scoltland’s 7x4s and 1x6 - but never in an authoritative manner.
That - and three dropped catches - really was the difference between the two sides, Lennox Cush survived a very difficult chance to Stander, running to deep mid-on from deep mid-off. Carl Wright was dropped by Hamilton when the ball was savagely pulled into his midriff soon after.
Then, in the 17th over, things suddenly started to happen , and spirits were raised at the marginal prospect of an unlikely victory.
Wright was trapped in front by Stander for 62, including eight fours. Cush was well caught by Berrington off Watson, running in from deep mid-on. And three balls later Tim Allen was also caught in the deep, this time by Watts, to make it 114-4 with two overs remaining.
In the 19th over, Stander induced a hook shot which was top-edged in a huge skier. Simon Smith had to run 20 yards to get under it, but his main problem was he had the glaring sun right in his eyes, and even his keeper’s gloves could not prevent him from dropping the ball.
Who knows what might have been had that catch been taken? But even if it had, the Scots really didn’t deserve any more than they got. Now, they’ve got to lift themselves for the match against Afghanistan - bearing in mind that Ireland lost to them on the opening day, it’s a tough ask, but who better to put the Afghanis - and the Irish - into place than Scotland!
And, indeed, to qualify for the World T20 Cup, Scotland and Ireland now have to win all their remaining matches to get to the final. The Irish will really be feeling down. Whereas Scotland always make it difficult for themselves in sport, don’t they?
[Commentary] [Scorecard][Photos]
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