Captain Kathryn Bryce hit a half century on her 100th Scotland appearance, but it was not enough as Papua New Guinea defeated her charges in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Global Qualifier fifth/sixth play-off clash yesterday.
The Scots were looking to go out on a high in this one at the Tolerance Oval in Abu Dhabi and at the halfway point they looked in charge.
Bryce’s 63 not out was backed up by 44 from Saskia Horley as they made a very good looking total of 168-6 with the bat. Bryce’s innings included nine 4s while opener Horley was at the crease for 32 balls and hit seven 4s.
Lorna Jack also made 18 off 14 balls towards the back end of things.
In the second half the Scottish bowling was a bit ragged and PNG took full advantage and pounced on anything loose.
Abtaha Maqsood did manage to trap Naoani Vare for 22 and Katie McGill bowled fellow opener Sibona Jimmy for 26, but then Tanya Ruma and Brenda Tau took control.
Ruma made 63 not out from just 31 balls and Tau backed her up with 41 not out as they got themselves home by eight wickets with eight balls to spare as they reached 169-2.
After the disappointing end to the campaign which saw Scotland finish sixth after wins over the USA and the UAE, but defeats to Bangladesh, Ireland and PNG, Kathryn Bryce said: “Credit to their batters, they did a good job, but from our point of view as a bowling unit there were just too many bad balls in there and too many extras.
“I think it will take us a bit of time to pick ourselves up from here, there have been some really positive things while we have been out here and we have to focus on those.
“In the last few games we have made decent totals with the bat and at times we have bowled well, but we just have to find ways of putting both together on the same day.”
It was a milestone day for the Bryce family as Kathryn reached 100 caps for her country and she has been a great player for Scotland over the last few years.
Her mum and dad were in the crowd and her sister Sarah was playing alongside her and, in an emotional cap presentation pre-match, the latter said: “Pulling on the Scotland shirt once is an honour, to do it 100 times is something even greater and it is extremely special.
“Keep playing with the same pride and passion as you always do, I couldn’t be prouder and there is so much more to come.”
Cricket Scotland would like to congratulate ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Global Qualifier champions Bangladesh and Ireland for making it through to the showpiece event in South Africa next year.
