Favourites UAE and Scotland bounce back to post facile wins
- 19 Oct 2019
UAE bounced back to beat top contenders Ireland by five wickets in their second match of the World T20 qualifiers in Abu Dhabi on Saturday. Chasing a respectable total of 125, the UAE overhauled the target for the loss of five wickets with three balls to spare.
Earlier, Tom Sole smashed quick-fire 33 off 18 balls and Richie Berrington returned with a figure of 3-17 as Soctland defeated Kenya by 31 runs at the World T20 qualifiers on Saturday.
Batting fast, Scotland posted a huge total of 170 for the loss of six wickets and restricted Kenya to 139 for 8 in their allotted 20 overs.
Scotland got off to a decent start as both the openers put up a 33-run partnership for the first wicket. But Kenya bowlers struck in quick successions as Scotland lost two wickets in the span of nine runs.
But Berrington and Calum Macleod shared a 53-run partnership to steer Scotland to 94-3 in 12 overs. They laid down a foundation for a big total.
After that Scotland kept on losing the wickets at regular intervals looked set to out for around 150. But Sole played a cameo of 33 runs with the help of four boundaries and one six as they reached 170/6 in 20 overs.
In reply, Kenya started their innings in style as the openers added 48 runs for the first wicket in just seven overs.
Irfan Karim was his brutal best as out of 48 runs his partner Alex Obanda scored only 12. Sole got rid of Obanda to bring a temporary respite to the camp.
To their dismay, Karim and Dhiren Gondaria added another 45 runs for the second wicket as Kenya looked set to overhaul the target easily.
Davey sent Gondaria back to pavilion to bring Scotland back into the game. After the dismissal of Gondaria, the floodgates were opened for Scotland. Scotland bowler got back into the rhythm as Kenya failed to keep their nerves. Kenya failed to get the partnerships going and kept on losing the wickets on regular intervals to end on 139 in their 20 overs.
Elsewhere, Netherlands defeated Namibia by 44 runs. In the other match of the day, PNG routed a hapless Bermuda by 10 wickets with 10 overs to spare. Chasing an easy target of 90 runs, PNG got over the line in just 10 overs. Assad Vala smahased an unbeaten 53 off 33 deliveries.
