Ashish Ranjan
Tuesday, Michael Leask led Scotland to a remarkable 31-run victory over Zimbabwe, setting up a winner-take-all match between Scotland and the Netherlands for a spot in the World Cup. The hosts could have secured second place with a victory over Scotland in Bulawayo, but Scottish quick Chris Sole (3/33) ripped through their top order, bowling them out for 203 while pursuing 234 runs. In the other game, Ireland defeated Nepal by two wickets in a close contest that went down to the final over.
Ireland prevailed by a slender 8-wicket margin despite a tense and close finish. Barry McCarthy scored the winning runs, a six, as Ireland defeated Nepal with four balls remaining. Nepal exerted pressure on Ireland by taking two quick wickets, but despite exerting pressure until the final over, it was Ireland who handled the pressure best.
Craig Ervine (Captain): “I thought we did well to restrict them to 230. But that first spell from Sole put us in a difficult position and we could not recover. We have played some good cricket through the tournament but fell short today. We had done really well and had we finished better (with the ball) then we would have been chasing 210.
Everybody is gutted, it is always nice to put the demons from 2018 behind us and had we won today, nobody would have been asking about that but unfortunately we didn’t. I am extremely proud of the way boys have played right through the tournament, Williams has been fantastic and we can take a lot of positives away. We are really thankful for the crowd that has come and supported us, cricket has changed in the last year or so and that is because of the way we are playing. We are playing an exciting brand of cricket and that is the reason the crowd are coming out to support us.”
Zimbabwe gets out for 203 runs, giving Scotland a 31-run victory. They were dismissed in just 41.3 overs, which also means they have been eliminated from the World Cup in India later this year. This victory keeps Scotland’s World Cup hopes alive, and the winner of the match between Scotland and the Netherlands will qualify for the tournament.
