Scotland now have two wins and two defeats on the board in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier thanks to a 24-run loss against Namibia today in Dubai.
Losing the toss and being asked to field first, Scotland’s bowling attack did well to restrict Namibia to 100/4 after 15 overs, with Tom Sole, Mark Watt, Hamza Tahir and Josh Davey claiming the scalps and restricting the scoring despite 37 off 26 from Gerhard Erasmus at number five.
Five five overs to go, Namibia switched gears to take them from 100/4 to 159/6 at the end of the 20th, JJ Smit (43 off 22) and Craig Williams (31 off 34) taking a liking to pacers Safyaan Sharif and Josh Davey toward the end.
Without Kyle Coetzer due to dehydration, Richie Berrington stepped up as captain with Craig Wallace filling in the opening slot and Michael Leask coming in for Oliver Hairs to change a side that the day before recorded a 4-run win over PNG.
Scotland got off to a shaky start, losing openers Wallace (0) and Munsey (11) early on to leave Scotland 19/2 in the third.
Without pinch-hitter Oli Hairs in the top four, Calum MacLeod (39) and Richie Berrington (23) came together for an elegant 48-run stand that fell inside the 11th over with the dismissal of Berrington.
With 67/3 on the board and the run-rate creeping up in chase of 160, Scotland went on to lose the next five wickets for 27 runs with Safyaan Sharif (17*) and Josh Davey (12*) the only batsmen to make double figures after MacLeod’s departure.
With the pair coming together in the 18th over, Scotland needed an unlikely 53 runs to win the game and put their third win on the board. The pair put on 28 runs but it was not enough, Namibia running out winners by 24 runs.
Scotland’s next game, against Bermuda, is being broadcast on Sky Sports on 24th October from 16:10.
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