George Munsey was the record-breaking main man with the bat this time as Scotland made it four wins out of four in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier with a triumph over Austria on Tuesday.
Just yesterday, Oli Hairs had made 127 not out to match Munsey’s unbeaten 127 made against the Netherlands in 2019, but Munsey went five better here with a dazzling 132.
It was another clinical performance by Scotland who posted 232-2 before bowling their opponents out for 66 to give them a 166 run win, a record margin for the men’s team in this format.
Player of the match Munsey said: “It was another good performance from the team.
“To get my record back [for the highest ever individual score by a Scot in a men’s T20 international] was nice as obviously Oli set the standard against Italy, the way he batted was fantastic.
“However, what is most pleasing is that we have a number of guys stepping up to contribute with the bat and ball each time we take to the field which is ultimately helping us to win games.
“We are a close group who are having fun out there and the whole squad of 15 are doing their bit to make sure that we keep the good run going.
“Now we will reset ahead of the final two matches on Thursday and Friday because we still have a job to do.”
Austria won the toss and asked Scotland to bat, who handed 20-year-old wicketkeeper/batter Tom Mackintosh his T20 international debut in place of Matthew Cross.
Munsey set the tone for the day by hitting three reverse sweeps all for four off the first over bowled by Amit Nathwani.
In the second over from Sahel Zadran he hit another four and then a six, racing to 26 from just 11 balls.
One four came off the third over before, after a single from Hairs, Munsey hit a four, then a four, then a six, then another four off Zadran to take his own score up to 49 and the team on to 53.
Munsey’s 50 then came up in the next over off just 22 balls while Hairs started to get in on the act with two fours and a six off Jaweed Sadran.
In the sixth over Munsey hit four fours and then a two off the first five balls from Shahil Momin to move himself onto 68.
At the end of the seventh over Abdullah Akbarjan got a much needed first wicket, Hairs being caught by Armaan Randhawa for 23 off 12 balls.
Brandon McMullen, fresh off a superb 96 versus Italy, was next to the crease.
That was 96-1, and the 100 came up after a couple of twos from Munsey at the start of the eighth over before Austria delivered a couple of tighter overs to leave Scotland 118-1 from 10 overs.
Munsey would reach his 100 with a single off Umair Tariq at the start of the 14th over much to the delight of those present.
He had made it to three figures off 50 balls, and filled his boots for the rest of that set, taking three sixes and a four off Tariq.
A four off Shahil Momin in the 15th over took Munsey up to 126 and then, after a single, later in the over a further single took him to 128 to set the aforementioned new record.
Munsey eventually made it to 132 before he was adjudged to be out LBW to Akbarjan after a fine knock. The left hander had faced 61 balls, hit 15 fours and six sixes and was given a rousing reception as he left the field.
Munsey’s departure left Scotland 187-2 and McMullen and skipper Richie Berrington then put on a partnership of 55 runs for the third wicket to take the team up to 232-2 from their 20 overs. McMullen was unbeaten on 28, Berrington finishing on 40 not out.
It was Scotland men’s fourth highest T20 international total of all time and the third time they had scored over 200 in the tournament.
In Austria’s reply, Mark Watt bowled a maiden in the first over before, in the third over, Iqbal Hossain scored the first four of the innings off Safyaan Sharif.
Two balls later Hossain skied one off Sharif and McMullen took a brilliant, diving catch to dismiss him for seven and leave Austria 9-1.
Tight bowling from Brad Currie and Sharif – the fifth over from the latter being a maiden – meant that Austria were 14-1 at that stage.
The seventh over was Michael Leask’s first and, with the last ball, he took Scotland’s second wicket, Austria skipper Razmal Shigiwal caught behind by wicketkeeper Tom Mackintosh for seven to make it 24-2.
In the eighth over Gavin Main, who took five wickets against Italy, struck with his second ball of the day when he had Navin Wijesekera caught by Berrington for six.
At the halfway point Austria were 33-3 needing an unlikely another 200 runs to win and their fourth wicket fell the very next ball.
Leask had Momin caught by Greaves for one and, soon after, the same man took another and Main took one to leave Austria 41-6.
Things got even worse in the 13th over for Austria when a mix up saw Mehar Cheema run out and it was 50-7.
In the 15th over Akbarjan was bowled by Greaves for three before Sadran showed some fighting spirit with a six and a four in two balls off Sharif in the 16th over.
Zadran was then caught behind by Mackintosh later in that over for a duck and, in the 17th over, Sadran was bowled by Greaves for a top score of 15 and Austria were 66 all out.
Leask led the way with 3-11, fellow spinner Greaves took 2-2 from 1.3 overs and seamers Main and Sharif both took two scalps apiece.
Scotland are next in action at Grange CC on Thursday at 10.30am against Denmark.
