Michael Leask helped Scotland to a stunning 31-run victory over Zimbabwe on Tuesday to set up a winner-takes-all clash with the Netherlands for a place in the World Cup. Sri Lanka became the first of the top two teams in the Super Six table to qualify for the October-November World Cup in India as they defeated Zimbabwe on Sunday. The hosts could have clinched second spot with a win over Scotland in Bulawayo, but it wasn’t to be after speedy Scottish Chris Sole (3-33) ripped through their top spot to eventually go out for 203 chasing 234.
“Our boys were fantastic. Thanks to the way the boys played today,” said Scotland captain Richie Berrington.
“The way we came out and showed confidence in the second innings and got those early wickets was fantastic.”
Berrington added: “It’s a quick turnaround in the game against the Netherlands. We’re going to need a lot of confidence, but it’s going to be a tough game.”
“It’s a very hard pill to swallow,” admitted Craig Ervine, Berrington’s Zimbabwean counterpart.
“I thought we did the right thing by limiting them to 230. Unfortunately, that first initial spell from Sole really put us behind and just made it hard for us to recover from that position.”
Leask top-scored with a 34-ball 48 as Scotland scored 234 runs for eight wickets from their allotted 50 overs.
Coming in at number eight, he paired with Mark Watt (21 not out) for a priceless eighth wicket partnership of 46 after the Scots fell behind at 170-7.
Three other batsmen – Matthew Cross (38), Brandon McMullen (34) and George Munsey (31) – all made it to the 30s but failed to continue their time on the crease.
Sean Williams took 3-41 from his 10 overs but failed to shine with the bat as Zimbabwe were quickly reduced to 37/4 in the chase, under intense pressure from Sole.
Wessly Madhevere hit 40 and the dangerous Sikandar Raza 34 as Zimbabwe fought back.
Ryan Burl, however, gave the host country the most hope and hit 83 from 84 balls.
But Burl fell crucially through Leask’s offbreak, who also had a clever catch of his own bowling to dismiss Richard Ngarava.
The Scot finished 2-33 from six overs and his team left the field knowing that a win over the Dutch on Thursday would see them head to India in the autumn.
It was a deja vu for Zimbabwe after a similar failure in the 2018 qualifiers when they only needed to win one of their last two games to qualify for the World Cup. They lost in both matches in both 2018 and 2023.
“It’s always nice to put those demons of 2018 behind us and if we had crossed the line today no one would have asked about it, but unfortunately we didn’t,” said Ervine.
(This story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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