Scotland cruise into T20 World Cup second round for first time

Scotland reached the T20 World Cup second round for the first time yesterday with a thumping eight-wicket win over Oman.

The Scots comfortably chased down their target of 123 with 18 balls to spare to register their third win out of three in qualifying.

Captain Kyle Coetzer topscored for Scotland with 41 off 28 balls with three sixes and two fours despite taking a nasty blow on his hand.

Richie Berrington, finished the game with a huge six to remain 31 not out. Matthew Cross (26) was also undefeated.

Scotland will go into Group 2 of the Super 12s alongside Afghanistan, India, New Zealand, Pakistan and the runners-up from qualifying Group A - likely to be either Ireland or Namibia.

Bangladesh, who were stunned by Scotland in their opening game, secured the second qualifying spot in Group B by seeing off Papua New Guinea by 84 runs.

They will play in Group 1 alongside Australia, England, South Africa, West Indies, probably Sri Lanka and either Ireland or Namibia.

“What a day for Scottish cricket, the boys are buzzing,” said man-of-thematch and fast bowler Josh Davey who took 3-25.

“It was a great occasion to showcase my skills, we had a bit of luck but will take that every day of the week.

“We’ve got the belief, a lot of bases covered, and T20 is about momentum, and we can take that on.” Scotland came into the 2021 tournament having never progressed beyond the first

round in their three previous appearances, winning just one game in seven. Scotland restricted Oman to 122 all out.

Oman, who won the toss and opted to bat, had a terrible start when Jatinder Singh was out second ball following a run-out mix-up which left him and opener Aqib Ilyas at the same end.

Ilyas went on to top score with 37 off 35 balls but the home side never shook off the shackles of the Scottish bowling. Only three Oman batters reached double figures.