Oman were bowled out for 122 in Muscat and Scotland eased home with three overs to spare after Kyle Coetzer made a timely return to form.
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Scotland have qualified for the Super 12 stage of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2021, following a triumph by a margin of eight wickets against Oman on Thursday. The nation never managed to qualify from the group stage in any previous edition of the prestigious tournament, which makes the accomplishment historic. Hosts Oman were bowled out for 122 in Muscat. Scotland completed a comprehensive win with three overs to spare, following a fine knock by skipper Kyle Coetzer. Coetzer accumulated 41 runs in a tense scenario, ensuring a triumph under pressure. Richie Berrington also provided quality support to the skipper, smashing 31 runs from 21 deliveries.
Earlier, Josh Davey was the pick of the bowlers for Scotland accounting for three dismissals. Safyaan Sharif and Michael Leask were also quite impressive, picking two wickets apiece.
“It’s a great feeling. Congratulations to Zeeshan and Oman, they have been great. It’s the op[portunity to play at the biggest stage and you get to play the best of the best. The following back home has been immense. We have been through thick and thin in the last few years and guys have put in a lot of hard work to keep developing their game and the coaching staff has done an excellent job as well. As far as I’m aware, we are going into a slightly tougher team and there’s no reason to fear. It’s gonna be an exciting group, we will go into every game full of hope and will give our best. Someone going and getting a big score, Berrington did that in the last game and I guess we dropped a couple of catches and our bowling up front and at the death has been excellent, Mark Watt has been excellent. We will find time to celebrate just a little bit,” said Coetzer.
Oman skipper Zeeshan Maqsood expressed his regret having failed to deliver as per expectations.
“This is not the end, we will come back strong and work on our strengths. We are not able to put good total on the board and when it’s difficult to defend such a total we ended bowling short and few mistakes like that cost us. It was a tough game for him (Jatinder Singh) unfortunately he got run out and that put a little bit of pressure on others and in the middle overs we didn’t score much and fell short. I feel sorry for Oman and we couldn’t deliver what they were looking for. We are going to Namibia after this and we hope to do well there,” he stated.
Bangladesh have further qualified for the Super 12, following a comprehensive win by a margin of 84 runs against Papua New Guinea. Shakib Al Hasan made his presence felt with a fantastic performance, accounting for four dismissals. The all-rounder earlier accumulated 46 runs from 37 deliveries in an innings comprising of three sixes, to help Bangladesh post a competitive total of 181.
“This was much needed, the way we wanted to play today’s game, the intent was there from the batters, the wicket was better compared to the last two games they did a really good job, and the bowlers were equally good. We were concerned about two things – first six overs with both bat and ball, if we get a good start, we can really do well, that’s where the focus is. We are much more skilled hitters, rather than being big-hitters. Need to figure things out in the middle, communicate with others and start doing well,” said Bangladesh skipper Mahmudullah.
