(Cricket news) Zimbabwe tour of Scotland came to an end as the third and final T20 was won by the visitors to capture the series. Kyle Coetzer, the captain will still be content with the way they played in the series as they played their best in the three match series and narrowly lost the second match in a low scoring contest. Scotland are also currently playing the ICC Cricket World Cup League Two and are placed third with four more matches to go.

Scotland had a winning start to the series as it won the first match thanks to Richie Berrington’s swashbuckling 82 runs as he stood till the end with the score reading 141 for the loss of six wickets. The target looked easy for Zimbabwe but a four wicket haul from Safyaan Sharif and some tight bowling by Alasdair Evans saw the visitors fall short of 7 runs. Milton Shumba’s 45 runs was not enough to pull the Zimbabwe team through.

In the second match, Zimbabwe again got bundled out under 140 runs as Sean Williams was the top scorer as he held on to his bat with a 52 ball 60 as the team set a target of 137. Scotland was eyeing a comfortable series victory but got off to a clumsy start as they lost four wickets for just 16 runs until Berrington and Matthew Cross jointly scored 42 as the team was staring into a smooth win. 

Sean Williams broke the partnership in the 15th over as he got the wicket of Berrington and Luke Jongwe struck to take out Cross as Scotland lost their last four wickets while scoring two runs as they lost the match by 10 runs. Zimbabwe’s Richard Ngarava was the pick of the bowlers as he captured two wickets in the second over and only gave away 13 runs in his four over spell.

The third and final match was a high scoring one unlike the first two as both the teams went cross the 150 mark. Scotland won the toss and opted to bat which turned out to be the perfect choice as opener George Munsey and in form Berrington scored 54 and 44 runs respectively as the team ended the innings with 177 runs for the loss of four wickets. Victory again was in favour of Scotland.

Zimbabwe got off to a good start as they kept the run rate under control as Wesley Madhevere played defensively while watching his team mate Shumba smash six sixes in his 29 ball 66 which as the Scotland bowlers looked helpless. Shumba struck a four off Safyaan in the second ball of the final over as Zimbabwe finished the final match with an inspiring victory.

Scotland’s Richie Berrington finished the series as the highest run getter as he scored 168 runs in three matches as Zimbabwe’s Tendai Chatara and Luke Jongwe finished on top among the bowlers with five wickets each. The series also saw Sean Williams go past the 1000 run mark in T20 becoming only the second from his country after former player Hamilton Masakadza. Luke Jongwe is currently the second highest wicket taker this year in T20 matches with 26 wickets from 14 matches and is 2 wickets behind South African Tabraiz Shamsi.

Also read: Ireland win last ODI to tie the series after McBrine and Little star with the ball