The failure of top order batsmen and unfortunate interruption by rain denied Scotland a spot in the ICC World Cup 2019 as West Indies won the game by five runs on D/L method and booked a place for themselves in the world cup 2019.
After restricting West Indies for just 198 runs, Scotland at one point were three wickets down for 25 runs. But middle order batsmen Calum MacLeod (21 runs off 51 balls) Richie Berrington (33 off 68) and George Munsey (32 not out of 52 balls) rose to the occasion and brought normalcy.
Munsey had added 20 runs in 22 balls for the sixth wicket with Michael Leask(14 runs off 10 balls) when rain arrived and forced umpires to suspend play. Scotland were 125 for 5 wickets in 35.2 overs at that point but according to Duckworth-Lewis method they were five runs short of the par score.
The intensity of rains only increased with time and hence umpires declared the match as over and thus West Indies emerged victories as they were five runs ahead. Kemar Roach and Ashely Nurse picked up two wickets each and played significant role in keeping Scotland on the back foot throughout the chase.
Earlier in the game, Safyaan Sharif’s pace bowling had left West Indies at two runs for two wickets in the third over itself. He removed Chris Gayle on the first ball of the day and then sent back Shai Hope on the first ball of the next over.
West Indies recovered from these blows effectively as Evin Lewis (66 runs off 87 balls) and Marlon Samuels (51 runs off 98 balls) added 121 runs for the third wicket. But then West Indies lost three wickets in 12 runs and then never recovered from this blow. They were eventually all out for 198 runs
in the 49th over. Sharif ended with three wickets while Brad Wheal grabbed three wickets as well.
With this win, West Indies have qualified for the world cup 2019 while Scotland’s chances of qualifying have ended.
