Mark Watt, Brad Wheal and Michael Leask on form with the ball as Scotland stun two-time winners West Indies at T20 World Cup; Tuesday sees Holland take on Namibia at 5am followed by United Arab Emirates against Sri Lanka at 9am, both matches live on Sky Sports Cricket
Monday 17 October 2022 14:26, UK
Scotland shocked Group B favourites West Indies with a 42-run victory in their opening match of the T20 World Cup, while Ireland lost by 31 runs to Zimbabwe.
Mark Watt took 3-12, and Brad Wheal and Michael Leask picked up two wickets each as Scotland bowled the two-time winners out for 118 after posting 160-5.
West Indies were reduced to 84-8 and needed 60 runs from the final four overs, and while Jason Holder tried to attack, hitting back-to-back fours, he was last man out - caught by Chris Greaves off Watt.
The platform for the bowlers was laid by a strong batting performance, George Munsey's 66no from 53 balls setting Scotland in good stead.
Scotland seemed to thrive in the cold and overcast conditions at the Bellerive Oval and got off to a brisk start after they were put in to bat, racing to 52-0 in the sixth and final over of powerplay when rain forced the players off.
The interruption, however, seemed to halt their momentum with experienced all-rounder Holder sending back opener Michael Jones, who made 20, and number three Matthew Cross in quick succession after the restart.
However, Munsey then anchored the innings with his 53-ball knock, helping to secure a momentous victory for his side.
Left in a similar circumstance to Sri Lanka on Sunday, who lost to Namibia, the West Indies now must-win in their next match when they take on Zimbabwe in Hobart on Wednesday.
Scotland captain Richard Berrington was delighted with his side's performance, especially considering the lack of T20 cricket they have had of late.
"Obviously, it's a special win for us. There's a lot of hard work that's gone in over the last 12 months to get us to this point and we certainly took a lot of belief from the performances last year," said Berrington.
"I'm just extremely proud of the boys, going out there and showing off our skills.
"We haven't had as much T20 cricket as we might have liked but we have had a lot of 50-over cricket so it was really important for us to transfer those skills as quickly as we could.
"I'm just extremely delighted that we managed to do that.
"I thought that George Munsey and Michael Jones were excellent up front, giving us that platform and the West Indies pulled it to get it back in those middle overs.
"We had a few good cameos towards the end which we knew gave us a competitive score. I thought our bowlers were exceptional in that second innings."
Player of the match, Munsey, added: "I'm always looking to improve. I thought the guys out there did really well.
"We fought like anything out there in the field, the guys took their catches.
"Watty [Mark Watt] was outstanding there with his figures and the way that he bowled. He was just class.
"It was a really good performance.
"The guys did really well, coming out in the middle, from ball one going and took the pressure off me a little bit especially after that delay with the rain. They came out and did me a lot of good there."
Ireland's top order crumbled as they kicked off their campaign with a 31-run defeat at the hands of Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe made 174-7 after being sent in at Hobart's Bellerive Oval, a stiff total that proved beyond the boys in green as they finished on 143-9 at the end of their innings.
Having needed a strong start to give themselves a chance, Ireland crashed to 22-4 and effectively drifted to rank outsiders before the end of the powerplay.
Josh Little had earlier continued his impressive year, taking 3-24, while there were two wickets apiece for Mark Adair and Simi Singh. But nobody could get to grips with player of the match Sikandar Raza, who hit five sixes and five fours in his decisive knock of 82.
The Irish response lacked anything as substantial as that, with three scores of 20-plus but nothing more than Curtis Campher's steady 27.
The evening began well for Ireland, who opted to bowl first and saw Little open their tournament tally with his second delivery as Regis Chakabva was caught behind. The left-armer, who proved a hit with Manchester Originals in The Hundred this summer, also removed Wessly Madhevere with the new ball.
Singh continued the good work by nipping out veteran duo Sean Williams and Craig Ervine to leave the score at 79-4 at the 10-over mark. Raza turned the equation in Zimbabwe's favour, however, as they piled on a further 95 runs in the second half of the innings, racing to his half-century in 26 balls.
Ireland mirrored their opponents in losing a wicket from their second ball, with big-hitting Paul Stirling cleaned up by Richard Ngarava, who the picked off Lorcan Tucker in his next over. Captain Andy Balbirnie and Harry Tector both fell cheaply to Blessing Muzarabani, leaving too much for their team-mates to do.
Campher, George Dockrell (24) and Gareth Delany (24) made some inroads, but the asking rate continued to climb and regular wickets stalled the momentum as the game played out to its inevitable conclusion.
Tuesday sees Holland take on Namibia at 5am followed by United Arab Emirates against Sri Lanka at 9am in the T20 World Cup, with both matches live on Sky Sports Cricket.
