Scotland’s 31-run victory over Zimbabwe has boosted their possibilities of reaching the Cricket World Cup.
Scotland appeared answerable for proceedings with Christopher McBride and Matthew Cross on the crease however a flurry of wickets slowed Scotland down they usually appeared properly in need of a par rating earlier than a late Michael Leask burst obtained them to 234.
Home aspect Zimbabwe obtained their chase off to a horrible begin, dropping 4 wickets of their opening powerplay, however a stabilising partnership between Sikandar Raza and Ryan Burl ensured a complete collapse was not about to occur.
But Scotland started to take common wickets and Zimbabwe fell brief, ending their qualification hopes.
Scotland misplaced the toss and have been thrown in to bat first – and a stable 50 partnership between McBride and Cross was placed on the board earlier than the previous had his stumps rearranged by Tendai Chatara.
But Scotland went once more with one other partnership when Brandon McMullen got here to the crease as they handed 100 with the lack of only one wicket however Sean Williams produced a surprising three wickets in six overs to take away Cross and McMullen earlier than Richie Berrington spooned one to Innocent Kaia at lengthy off as they slumped to 118 for 4.
The guests’ run charge seemingly got here to a standstill because the Zimbabwean assault ate additional into the wickets column. Firstly Tomas Mackintosh was caught out of his crease when Blessing Muzarabani deflected George Munsey’s effort onto the stumps earlier than he was bowled by Richard Ngarava and a mix-up within the center led to Chris Greaves being run out.
Scotland appeared like they’d fall brief however Leask’s burst of 48 from 34 balls ushered them to a good complete of 234.
After the changeover, Joylord Gumbie edged Chris Sole with the very first ball of the innings to immediately put them on the backfoot and the Scottish seamer had his tail up when he castled each Craig Ervine and the in-form Williams with simply 29 on the board.
Kaia was subsequent to fall when he was caught leg earlier than wicket and after Raza was dropped by Greaves, he made amends when he obtained his wicket with the hosts 140 runs away from the overall.
Wesley Madhevere was subsequent to fall and Zimbabwe’s solely hope rested on the shoulders of Burl however he hit one large shot too many off Leask and their goals of reaching the World Cup in India got here crashing down.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
