Scotland 68-0 (SJ Bryce 37*, L Jack 25*) beat Namibia 67 (I van Zyl 15*, KE Bryce 2 for 6)
Scotland produced a ruthless display in the first round of play-offs at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier to record a ten-wicket victory over Namibia at Arbroath. A fine display with the ball saw the African nation dismissed for just 67 before openers Sarah Bryce and Lorna Jack knocked off the winning runs with more than eleven overs to spare.
Put into bat at Lochlands, Namibia were soon in trouble as, with the score on 8, consecutive wicket maidens from Kathryn Bryce and Rachel Hawkins put Scotland in control. After Bryce removed Kayleen Green (2) with the first ball of her second over, Hawkins bowled Adri van der Merwe (5) as she attempted to work the ball through leg, and although skipper Yasmeen Khan began with positive intent, her departure for 10 via a toe-ended catch to Sarah Bryce off the bowling of Abtaha Maqsood (1 for 18) reduced her side to 28 for 3. Petro Enright (9) followed four balls later, lbw to Katherine Fraser; Namibia, now 31 for 4, were on the slide.
Hannah Rainey (1 for 8) accounted for Sune Wittmann (9), Hawkins claiming the catch in the deep, while Fraser (2 for 16) clipped the top of Dietlind Foerster’s off stump as the collapse continued. Wilka Mwatile was run out for a three-ball duck, before Hawkins (2 for 9) and Kathryn Bryce (2 for 6) saw off Rehanna Khan (1) and Sylvia Sheppo (0). Irene van Zyl offered resistance with an unbeaten 15, but Katie McGill (1 for 10) wrapped up the innings with the wicket of Victoria Hamunyela (5) off the fourth ball of the eighteenth.
Chasing 68, Sarah Bryce found the boundary off both Hamunyela and Mwatile to take Scotland to 17 without loss after two, and although Yasmeen Khan rotated her bowlers in a bid to manufacture a breakthrough, aggressive running between the wickets from Bryce and Lorna Jack kept the scoreboard moving. A beautifully-timed clip off her legs brought Bryce the first of two more boundaries in the fourth, and with Jack getting in on the act with back-to-back fours of her own in the fifth, Scotland’s target had already been reduced by more than half. The final delivery of the over brought the first six of the match as Bryce lofted the ball over the fine leg rope to take the score on to 48 and the required runs down to 20.
Namibia stuck to their task, but the game was up. A four and a single from Jack (25*) took the scores level before Bryce (37*) hit the winning run off the fourth ball of the ninth to complete an emphatic victory.
