Scotland 289 for 9 (Leask 91*, McBride 56, Adair 3-57) beat Eire 286 for 8 (Campher 120, Dockrell 69, McMullen 5-34) by one wicket
Curtis Campher produced a powerful hundred to haul Eire again from the brink but it surely was not sufficient as Michael Leask masterminded an unbelievable heist to information Scotland to a tense one-wicket victory on the Queens Sports activities Membership in Bulawayo.Set 287 for a win, Scotland started in sprightly trend, scoring 56 for the lack of only one wicket within the powerplay. However quickly they have been struggling at 122 for six as, barring Christopher McBride, none of their high six reached 20.Chris Greaves, Mark Watt and Leask, although, stored the sport alive. Leask stitched a 30-run partnership with Greaves earlier than including 82 off simply 67 balls with Watt. The latter’s 43-ball 47 took the strain off Leask and wrested the momentum again from Eire. Watt fell within the forty sixth over however Leask stored discovering the fence usually and introduced the equation right down to 16 required from 12 balls.
The penultimate over, bowled by Josh Little, went for eight runs. With eight wanted from the ultimate over, Leask – helped by Harry Tector’s misfield on the long-on – hit a boundary off Mark Adair on the primary ball. Nevertheless, Safyaan Sharif was dismissed off the third ball after which Chris Sole performed out a dot, earlier than Leask scampered by for a bye on the fifth. With two wanted off the ultimate ball, Leask swung arduous and received a thick inside edge that beat the wicketkeeper and despatched the Scotland gamers into an absolute frenzy.
Earlier within the day, a searing opening spell from Brandon McMullen diminished Eire to 33 for 4. Paul Stirling was the primary to depart, nicking one to first slip earlier than McMullen trapped Balbirnie for a first-ball duck with a nip-backer. Tector denied him a hat-trick however might do nothing about one other glorious outswinger within the fifth over, edging it to second slip.Lorcan Tucker sought to counter-punch however, after a reprieve within the sixth over, fell to Watt within the ninth over. Campher, who didn’t play in opposition to Oman, discovered an ready ally in George Dockrell. The latter didn’t look very snug in the beginning, particularly in opposition to the tempo of Sole, however stayed within the center lengthy sufficient to…..
