Scotland stun West Indies in the T20 World Cup qualifiers

(Football news) George Munsey went on to make his maiden World Cup half-century and then followed it up with a disciplined bowling show led by the spinners helped Scotland stun the two-time champions West Indies in their opening match in Group B clash at Hobart's Bellerive Oval. The opener went on to make a 53-ball 66 in a knock of two halves as started to lay a solid platform for Scotland's match-winning total of 160/5. In the bowling department Mark Watt (3-12), Micahel Wheal (2-14) and Brad Wheal (2-32) ran through the West Indies to restrict them to 118 with Jason Holder's brilliant all-round display (2-14 & 38) going in vain.

West Indies won the toss and chose to field as the Scottish openers made the Caribbean side rethink their decision. Despite some swing early on Michael Jones got them going with successive fours off Kyle Mayers as Munsey and Jones hit 31 runs in two overs as Scotland's fifty was up within 5 overs at a very healthy strike-rate of 10 an over. The rain played a massive part as Scotland slowed down and pressed restart, Holder picked two wickets in successive overs to bring West Indies back in the game. Scotland reached only 72/2 at the halfway mark. Their revival was triggered by a handy few caemos with their skipper Richie Berrington and then Calum McaLeod carried this momentum forward to put the team past hundred in the 14th over. Having trudged to a 44-ball maiden T20 World Cup half-century, Munsey hit Smith to the fence thrice in the final over, converting Scotland's total of 145 into a strong 160/5.

West Indies actually finished their power play nearly on par with Scotland at 53/2. Nonetheless, Brandon King and Evin Lewis kept attacking and got 27 off the next two overs. West Indies made a promising start to their chase with King unbeaten on 15 off 9 but Watt and Leask halted the chase downThey got the well-set King and the dangerous Nicholas Pooran in back to back overs as WI crawled to 69/4 at the 10 over mark. To make matters worse, Rovman Powell got out after the drinks, a brilliant catch from Leask removed a struggling Brooks as West Indians were left  in tatters at 79/7. Holder was the only one to show some resistance, and attacked the bowling line up. His one-sided effort of 38 (33 balls) was always all in vain as Scotland won by 42 runs.

Brief scores: 160/5 in 20 overs (George Munsey 66*, Jason Holder 1/14) beat West Indies 118 all out in 18.3 overs (Jason Holder 38; Mark Watt 3-12, Michael Leask 2-14) by 42 runs

Also read: Cummins replaces Finch as Australia's new ODI captain
 

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