Scotland 169 (42 ov) Coetzer 61, MacLeod 58, Cremer 5/29 lost to Zimbabwe 171/4 (37.0 ov) Raza 58* by 6 wickets (with 78 balls remaining) [Scorecard]
Scotland hosted Zimbabwe for the second One Day International at the Grange on Saturday (17 June).
Following the hosts victory on Thursday the Scots knew the Zimbabwans would be looking for a positive response. Under bright skies Captain Coetzer won the toss and elected to bat first as a good crowd made their way to the Grange.
With the sound of bagpipes in their ears, the teams made it out to the middle. Coetzer continued where he left off in the first game, taking 14 runs off the second over of the day, including a huge six over mid-wicket off Mpofu.
Zimbabwe quickly turned to spin, it instantly proved to be a good decision as Williams cleaned up Cross in the 6th over.
MacLeod then came to the crease as he and Coetzer combined to put on the best partnership of the innings, worth 71. Coetzer, who came into this match on the back of two centuries, looked in little trouble as he composed another 50.
The Scottish captain’s departure came when he looked to go big and was stumped by Peter Moor for 61 off captain Cremer.
MacLeod, however, wasn’t perturbed by his captain’s departure as he looked to put Zimbabwe under pressure. He was rewarded with his seventh ODI fifty after cutting Raza to the rope in consecutive deliveries.
MacLeod fell to Williams attempting to cut a spinning delivery only to see his stumps disturbed for 58 with the score on 135/3 after 28 overs.
It was then that the Scots suffered a collapse as only Michael Leask (11) was able to reach double figures while the Zimbabwe captain, Cremer, helped himself to impressive figures of 5/29.
As Chris Sole lost his off-stump to Ryan Burl for 2, the score showed 169 all out after 42 overs.
The Zimbabwe reply started before lunch had been taken and the fire of Chris Sole managed to claim three big wickets before lunch.
Mire was dismissed in the 5th over when he looked to pull a short delivery, only to get a flick off the glove to Cross. Berrington and Sole then combined for the wickets of Williams and Masakadza to give the Scots a glimpse of hope as lunch was taken with Zimbabwe 44/3.
Craig Ervine and Sikander Raza then took the game away with some smart running and powerful calculated striking. Ervine did fall for 30 when he was cut in half from a peach of a delivery from Josh Davey for 30.
Raza was to hit the winning runs with a four over mid-wicket in the 37th over as he completed a composed innings to finish unbeaten on 58 and give Zimbabwe a 6 wicket win.
At the end of the game Scotland captain Kyle Coetzer said, “I thought Zimbabwe were able to make use of the conditions a little bit better than us, they reacted really quickly about 15 or 17 overs in and spin came into play, and we were found wanting against spin which isn’t something I say often because I think we play spin pretty well.”
When asked about Scotland’s performances this summer Coetzer added, “We’ve put in a good case to be playing these games more often [against Full Members] I think we’ve played some great cricket in 2017 and the guys have put their hands up win us games of cricket and that’s what it’s all about and taking us to the next level.”
