Taylor bowls Scotland to victory

In a one-sided Group B encounter, Scotland crushed Papua New Guinea by 84 runs in the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifiers at the ICC Academy in Dubai on Thursday (November 21).

After being inserted, Richie Berrington (43) and Calum MacLeod (58), the Scottish openers, put up a 100-run stand off 11.1 overs. Berrington’s knock came off 33 balls and included three fours and a six, while MacLeod hit five fours and three sixes in his 40-ball knock. Following their dismissals in quick succession, Matt Machan and Kyle Coetzer (11), the captain, stitched a 42-run partnership off just 25 balls for the fourth wicket as Scotland finished with a healthy 181 for 5 after 20 overs. Machan scored 44 off 25 balls, hitting two fours and as many sixes, before being caught behind off right-arm pacer Willie Gavera.

Gavera’s four overs fetched him 2 for 24, the most successful of PNG bowlers. Legspinner Charles Amini finished with 2 for 33 off his quota while John Reva dismissed the Scotland captain.

PNG failed to get off the blocks in its chase, lacking a good start upfront and no substantial partnerships thereafter. Wicketkeeper-bastman Jack Vare, who came in at No.8, was the top-scorer for PNG with 22.

Gordon Goudie returned figures of 3 for 15 and Rob Taylor picked up 3 for 16 to win the Man of the Match award.

Taylor was named the Man of the Match for his performance. “I am pretty happy obviously. When we came in today we knew we had to win and we did that with a clinical effort and hope we take this performance in our upcoming matches,” he said.

Taylor acknowledged the effort of Scotland’s batsman, while also conceding that the conditions played their part in assisting the bowlers. “I think with the rain coming, it probably helped our bowlers as the ball did a bit more. We had a great first half with our guys putting up a huge total on board and it was going to be a tough chase for them,” he said.

Kyle Coetzer too was all praise for the batsmen. “We feel we are on a bit of a roll now, brilliant effort by the boys today. In T20 cricket you have to try and put up as big a total as possible. We had a couple of guys who played really well today and helped us get to that total. That was massively important for us as the run rate usually comes into play in these kinds of tournaments at later stages,” he said.

Scotland will now face Netherlands, the table-toppers, at the same venue on November 22.