Scotland battled back superbly well to defeat Zimbabwe in a thrilling ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier Super Six stage match on Tuesday – once again keeping their hopes of making the showpiece event in India alive.
At the Harare Sports Club on Saturday, they knew that they had to beat West Indies in their first Super Six outing to boost their chances of a top two finish.
They did just that and this time around at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo in front of a quite brilliant and noisy home crowd, they were up against it on a number of occasions but showed great fighting spirit to secure the win.
In the end, 234-8 played 203 all out and it means that, with one Super Six match to play against Netherlands on Thursday, Scotland currently sit second in the table behind already-qualified Sri Lanka.
With Zimbabwe now out of the running, the winner of clash with the Netherlands is set to make it through to the World Cup, so the stakes are high and the excitement is building.
Chris Sole was named player of the match versus Zimbabwe for his 3-33 from seven overs and skipper Richie Berrington said: “I am incredibly proud of the lads.
“It maybe wasn’t our best overall performance, but the fight we showed was really pleasing and we had to take early wickets in their reply.
“Chris Sole bowled an excellent opening spell and set things up for us and the rest of the boys backed him up.
“We have played well in the last two games and we will take confidence going into the Netherlands game. We will have to be at our best, but we will be ready for the test.
“The support from back home has been excellent and it means a lot to us, we are looking for one big performance more now.”
Zimbabwe won the toss and decided to have a bowl while Scotland named the same XI that defeated the West Indies.
In the face of some probing bowling, Scotland’s openers Chris McBride and Matthew Cross made a steady start and the team were 35-0 after 10 wickets.
It took Zimbabwe until the first ball of the 17th over to make the breakthrough, McBride being bowled by first change bowler Tendai Chatara for 28.
Cross and Brandon McMullen came together and put together 46 runs for the second wicket taking the team up and over 100.
From the first ball of the 26th over Cross was bowled by Sean Williams for 38 and Scotland were 102-2.
That began a purple patch for Zimbabwe and McMullen was caught by Blessing Muzarabani off Williams two overs later for 34.
Berrington was caught by Innocent Kaia in the 32nd over for seven as Williams took his third scalp and it was suddenly 118-4.
Tom Mackintosh then joined George Munsey at the crease and they took the score up to 151 in the 40th over before the former was run out in unfortunate fashion, backing-up. for 13. Munsey was then bowled by Richard Ngarava in the 43rd over for 31 and it was 168-6.
Zimbabwe’s bowlers were on top and wicket number seven came in the 44th over when Chris Greaves was run out for one.
Michael Leask needed to come to the party for Scotland to get up and over 200 – and the all-rounder did.
He made 48 off just 34 balls, including three fours and two sixes, meaning that by the time he was caught by Ngarava off Chatara in the 49th over the team were up to 216-8.
Mark Watt (21 not out off 15 balls) and Safyaan Sharif (5 not out) were in until the 50 overs were up and Scotland made it up to 234-8.
Williams led the way with the ball for Zimbabwe with 3-41 from his 10 overs.
Sole had been bowling with great pace and accuracy throughout this competition and the first ball of the Zimbabwe reply was a cracker.
It was almost unplayable as it took the outside edge of Joylord Gumbie’s bat and was caught behind by wicketkeeper Cross.
Sole then bowled Zimbabwe captain Craig Ervine for two in the third over the home side were 13-2 and the crowd were as quiet as they had been in a long time.
Things got even better for Scotland in the seventh over when Sole bowled Williams for 12 to make it 29-3 and, when McMullen trapped Kaia LBW for the same score in the eighth over, it was 37-4.
Sikandar Raza and Ryan Burl knew they had to rebuild things and stay around for a while to keep their side in the game – and they did so.
They helped Zimbabwe up to 91 and were looking good before Greaves enticed Raza to hit one straight to Mackintosh. Raza had made 34 from 40 balls, so that fifth wicket was a big one for the Scots.
Burl was going well at that point and Wesley Madhevere joined him at the crease, they pair putting together a 73 run sixth wicket partnership.
Madhevere was looking dangerous on 40 from 39 balls and it took a beauty from Watt to trap him LBW. That wicket came from the first ball of the 31st over, taking Zimbabwe to 164-6, with a nail-biting finish in prospect
Wellington Masakadza was caught by Berrington off McMullen for five at the start of the 36th over and then, just seven balls later, Ngarava was caught and bowled by Leask.
That left Zimbabwe 182-8, but with Burl still there and unbeaten on 70 the hosts were still firmly in the contest.
Off balls two and three of the 39th over Burl went on the attack and hit a four and then a six off Leask.
The very next delivery, on 83 and facing his 84th ball, Burl went for another big hit leg side, but only managed to chip the ball to McMullen who took an excellent catch over his shoulder.
That was the scalp that Scotland so desperately wanted and, with Zimbabwe on 197-9, the visitors needed one wicket for victory and the home side still needed 38 runs.
In the next over Scotland referred a possible Chatara LBW from Safyaan Sharif, but on review it was just slipping down leg side and the Scot was left on 99 ODI wickets.
He did not have long to wait though to become the first Scotland player to 100 wickets in this format, bowling Chatara for two with ball one of the 42nd over to spark jubilant celebrations and seal the victory.
Sole’s three wickets were backed up by 2-31 by McMullen and 2-33 from Leask, but every bowler and fielder played their part.
Next up for Scotland is a meeting with the Netherlands. Win, and Scotland will be heading to the World Cup in India this October. Lose, and it will come down to the margin of victory, and whether the Netherlands can leapfrog the Saltires on net run rate.
It does not get bigger than this.
