Al Amerat: Scotland are now a step closer towards Super 12s as they bagged a comfortable 17-run win over Papua New Guinea in the fifth match of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
Scotland restricted PNG to 148 while defending 166. Papua New Guinea are out of the competition as they have lost both of their first two matches.
Meanwhile, PNG’s run-chase became interesting after PNG tried to put a fight back in the middle-overs.
Norman Vanua and Kiplin Doriga formed a 53-run stand in 26 balls for seventh wicket but couldn’t take it to the end. Vanua was the most impressive batter, scoring 37-ball 47. He hit two fours and two sixes. Doriga made 11-ball 18.
Josh Davey was the pick of the bowlers for Scotland, claiming figures of 4/18.
Earlier, Richie Berrington and Matthew Cross were the mainstays for Scotland as both added a 92-run stand for third wicket. Berrington scored 70 off 49 balls (Six fours and three sixes) at a strike rate of 142.86 while Cross made 36-ball 45.
After their dismissals, Scotland couldn’t capitalize as they lost six wickets in the last 11 balls.
For PNG, Kabua Morea bagged figures of 4/31 while Chad Soper claimed three wickets for 24 runs. Simon Atai took wicket of Cross in the 15th over.
Berrington was awarded player of the match for his brilliant innings. “We got just over par on that wicket,” he said. “At first we didn’t have a target in mind, and just wanted to get used to the wicket. Thankfully we managed to get that big partnership which was quite key in the end.”
