Scotland complete formality

Kathmandu, August 1

Scotland thrashed Nepal by nine wickets in their second match of the ICC World Cricket League Championship today at the Cambusdoon New Grounds in Ayr.

After a nail-biting three-run victory in the first game on Wednesday, Scotland’s second win came under different circumstances. Chasing a revised target of 110 in 22 overs after rain halted the match on Friday, the hosts raced to 111-1 with 49 balls to spare.

After the two defeats inside four days, Nepal are at the seventh place in the eight-team table. Papua New Guinea are at the bottom. Netherlands lead the standing, while Scotland are at the second place with two wins from as many matches.

After Friday’s rain delay, Scotland began from 15-0 and completed the victory without much trouble. Sompal Kami took the only wicket when he removed Kyle Coetzer (seven) in the second ball of the third over. George Munsey and Matthew Cross then took the team home without further loss. They added 96 runs for the unbroken second wicket.

Munsey remained unbeaten on 40 off 41 balls with five fours and two sixes, while Cross scored a quick fire 51 off just 37 balls.

On Friday, Nepal batted first after Scotland invited them to take the first strike. Sharad Vesawakar top scored for the team with 30 runs, while Basant Regmi made 19. Avinsah Karn contributed 17, while Gyanendra Malla, Pradeep Airee and Prithu Baskota scored 16 runs each. Alasdair Evans was the pick of the Scotland bowlers taking three wickets, while Safyaan Sharif, Gavin Main and Michael Leask claimed two each, and Mark Watt grabbed a wicket.

Kenya and Nepal, who finished third and fourth, respectively, in the WCL Division 2 in Namibia got the chance to play in the WCL Championship after ICC decided to promote Afghanistan and Ireland to join the 10 Full Members in the rankings-based qualification system for the World Cup 2019. Nepal had a disastrous outing in Ireland and Scotland. They crashed out of the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifiers in Ireland before they lost two matches against Scotland.