Scotland grabbed their second win in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers as they defeated UAE on Friday at the Bulawayo Athletic Club Sports ground. Scotland defeated UAE by 111 runs.
Scotland set a target of 282 runs but UAE failed to chase the target as they were all-out on 171 runs. Muhammad Waseem captain of UAE won the toss and elected to field first.
Scotland was without the service of their key player George Munsey, who was ruled out of the game because of an illness.
UAE’s decision to field first gave them positive results in the starting as Junaid Siddique gave a tough time to Scotland’s opening batters.
Siddique first trapped opener Christopher McBride lbw for 5 and then bowled Matthew Cross for 13. Ali Nasser and Zahoor Khan also provided great support, scalping the wickets of Brandon McMullen (4) and Tomas Mackintosh (11) respectively.
Scotland’s skipper Richie Berrington and Michael Leask then combined to stitch together a much-needed partnership for Scotland.
Their unbeaten 52-run partnership helped Scotland reach 100/4 after 25 overs.
The partnership would eventually come to an end at the 67-run mark when Leask departed for a well-made 41, off Zahoor Khan. Skipper Berrington though kept on fighting, bringing up a half-century and knitting together another stand with Chris Greaves.
Greaves would be dismissed for 22 but Berrington kept leading the charge as he notched up a fabulous ton. Berrington’s knock of 127 would come in only 136 deliveries and with a helping hand from Mark Watt (44*), Scotland posted a competitive total of 282/8 in their 50 overs for UAE to chase.
In the second innings, UAE came out to bat and chase the target of 282 runs.
Chris Sole got the ball rolling with two wickets in two deliveries in the fifth over, dismissing Aryansh Sharma (8) and Vritiya Aravind (0). The double strike left UAE reeling and they never quite recovered from the early blows.
Rohan Mustafa (12) was the next wicket to fall, with Brandon McMullen knocking his stumps off. Asif Khan (17) could also not convert his start, perishing against Mark Watt.
The big wicket though came when Muhammad Waseem, who was looking good, was trapped lbw by Watt on 36. Sole would come back into the attack and scalp the wicket of Ali Naseer (19), who was looking dangerous.
At the halfway mark, UAE had a stiff challenge ahead, with the score at 117/6.
Though UAE put up a determined showing ahead, it was a task too tall to overcome. Basil Hameed (30) and Aayan Afzal Khan (21), and Karthik Meiyappan (23*) tried their best but Scotland kept chipping away at the wickets.
In the end, UAE was bowled out for 171 as Scotland made it two wins in two at the Qualifier.
