NEPAL EDGE TO VICTORY IN FINAL OVER THRILLER

Scotland Men suffered an agonising two-wicket defeat to Nepal, who edged a low-scoring thriller in the final over.

Scotland were bowled out for just 97, with Michael Leask (46) the only batter to pass 15 - but if Nepal thought it would be a comfortable chase, they were mistaken, requiring a scrambled single from Sandeep Lamichhane off the penultimate delivery to get over the line.

Nepal always seemed slightly ahead in their chase, but never got away from Scotland - and defending four, Safyaan Sharif managed to prize out Kiran Thagunna, but the visitors ultimately got to their target.

Matthew Cross said: "We didn't get enough runs ultimately, credit to our guys there for sticking in and taking it as deep as we could, but unfortunately it wasn't enough runs really.

"It was a bit trickier out there, but ultimately we were five wickets down in the powerplay, and that's a tough position to come back from.

"I thought Michael Leask was outstanding holding the innings together and gave us a decent shot, and if one or two more guys had chipped in it might have been different."

Scotland suffered a disastrous start, losing five wickets in the opening overs as they collapsed to 24-5 – a start they were never able to recover from.

Matthew Cross and Leask did their best, adding 39 in 7 overs as they looked to lay a platform for a late assault, Leask finding the boundary with more regularity as he scored at better than a run a ball.

Sandeep Lamichhane made the breakthrough, bowling the stand-in Scottish skipper Cross for 15.

Lamichanne would then rip through the Scotland lower order, bowling Chris McBride first ball, trapping Safyaan Sharif (6) in front, and bowling Jack Jarvis for a second ball duck.

Leask threatened a late assault, supported by Jasper Davidson, but eventually perished in the final over, bowled by Dipendra Singh Airee, as Scotland were dismissed for 97.

Kushal Bhurtel and Lokesh Bam looked like making light work of their target of 98, racing to 21 in just 15 deliveries - before Brandon McMullen struck to remove Bam (9).

Jarvis and Sharif both had stumps uprooted from the ground as Anil Sah (3) and Rohit Paudel (7) fell cheaply, Nepal sliding to 38-3 in the eighth over.

Bhurtel and Airee took their side to 60 when Mark Watt made the big breakthrough, trapping Bhurtel in front for 30 as he attempted to paddle.

Scotland continued to chip away as Nepal crept towards their target, Davidson removing Airee (15), before Leask dismissed Basir Ahamad and Rupesh Singh - including a spectacular one-handed return catch.

But despite Thagunna holing out in the final over with the scores level, Nepal got across the line.