UAE vs Scotland match summary:
United Arab Emirates 215/9
Scotland (48/50 ov, T:216) 217/6
Scotland won by 4 wickets (with 12 balls remaining)
The United Arab Emirates and Scotland played the third match of ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2. The matches are being played under will impact in team’s standings in the points table and qualifications.
On winnings the Toss, UAE decided to bat first and scored a total of 215 at the loss of 9 wickets. The team had a slower start but since they did not lose any wickets, it was expected of them to take risks at the end and bring up the run rate. Opener Chirag Suir had a steady start and was the highest run-scorer in the match with 69 runs but with a much slower strike rate of 57.02. The innings’ pace was picked up by Chundangapoyil Rizwan and Vriitya Aravind who scored 55 off 57 and 31 off 35 respectively. From 134 for 3 in 34 overs, the team could only add up 70 runs in the next 15 overs owing to the regular fall of wickets. For Scotland, Chris Sole had a great outing as he took 4 wickets in 9 overs giving away only 27 runs. He was backed by Adrian Neill who took 2 wickets in 8 overs he bowled.
Chasing a score of 216, Scotland looked dodgy in the beginning as they lost their first wicket in the first over itself. What was contrasting is how Scotland built up their innings. They played a lot faster than UAE and even though they were losing wickets, there was a batter at one end scoring runs patiently while the new batters came on and hit the ball. Captain Kyle Coetzer played a patient knock scoring 108 off 142 balls. The team looked in trouble in the middle as they lost 3 wickets in the interval of just scoring 24 runs. The power player, Michael Leask came in 27th over and changed things for Scotland as he scored a responsible 47 runs knock off 52 balls. UAE bowlers had made a great impact after 20 overs and they would have changed the result if they took 2 more wickets but Leask overpowered them. For them, Ahmed Raza and Basil Hameed took 2-2 wickets each.
The top four teams from the 2019 ICC World Cricket League Division Two competition joined Scotland, Nepal, and the United Arab Emirates. The first round of matches took place in August 2019 in Aberdeen, Scotland. The top three teams will proceed to the Cricket World Cup Qualifier competition in 2023, while the bottom four teams will compete in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier Play-off in 2022.
