Scotland suffered a 2-run loss to Singapore in the opening fixture of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier at the ICC Academy in Dubai.
Winning the toss and opting to field, Kyle Coetzer’s men got off to the dream start after they dismissed two of Singapore’s batsmen, Rangarajan and David, inside seven balls with Josh Davey and Safyaan Sharif claiming the scalps.
A quick-fire 32 from Aritra Dutta stabilised Singapore’s innings before Hamza Tahir struck with his first ball to put an end to the onslaught, Dutta’s knock coming from just 15 balls.
With number two batsmen Surendran Chandramohan (51 runs) anchoring the other end, Singapore was able to stabilise their innings and climb to 168/6 at the closing stage with some lower-order hitting from Janak Prakash (20) and Navin Param (13).
Scotland’s openers Kyle Coetzer (38) and George Munsey (46) built a solid opening platform and seemed to make light work of the run chase early on, putting 70 on the board for the first wicket inside eight overs.
However, an imminent collapse of 7 for 55 would see Scotland struggle in the the closing stages of the game, 44 (31) from Calum MacLeod providing the only resistance as Singapore took the game deep and put pressure on the tournament favourites.
With 19 required from 12 balls and MacLeod still at the crease, 11 runs from the penultimate over signalled Scotland may just be able to pull off the win.
Three wickets in the final over with Scotland able to add just the five runs, Singapore ran out winners by two runs after Josh Davey and Ali Evans needed to find a way to muster five from the last ball.
Scotland face Kenya tomorrow (19th October) at the same venue from 14:10 local.
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