Scotland humble Bangladesh by 34 runs in T20I

By Meg Anderson

THE HAGUE (TheSportsNext) July 25, 2012: Bangladesh failed to keep their winning momentum on Tuesday when minnows Scotland recorded an emphatic 34-run victory over the tourists in the only Twenty20 International played at Sportpark Westvliet in The Hague.

With this defeat, the high-flying Bangladesh are now back to ninth number in the Reliance ICC Twenty20 Rankings and Pakistan have retained their fourth position. 

It is important to mention here that Bangladesh had surged to their best-ever fourth position in the Reliance ICC Twenty20 Rankings after whitewashing Ireland in the three-match Twenty20 International series.

The victory was set up by an incredible and marvelous innings by Scotland opening batsman Richie Berrington (100 from 58 – 10 fours, 5 sixes) whose lone hand was enough to help the home side reach a huge total of 162 runs for the loss of seven wickets from their 20 overs.

The second-highest score by a Scottish batsman was 19 which was scored by Richie’s fellow opener Calum Macleod (19 from 13 – 2 fours, 1 six) while Kyle Coetzer (14 from 23) and Preston Mommson (11 from 14) also scored in the double digits.

In the end, Scotland scored 162 runs for the loss of seven wickets from their 20 overs.

Mashrafe Mortaza bowled with intellect and wit and only gave away 22 runs from his four overs taking two wickets while Abdur Razzak also claimed two wickets for 32 runs.

Bangladesh were expected to give Scotland good run for their money as all of their major batsmen were enjoying good run of form but it proved the otherwise.

As soon as Mohammad Ashraful (6 from 7 – 1 four) was run out, the complexion of Bangladesh innings changed completely as wickets started tumbling consistently.

Tamim Iqbal (26 from 22 – 2 fours) looked good before getting out while former skipper Shakib Al Hasan (31 from 29 – 1 four, 1 six) tried his best to pose serious challenge but he lacked support from the other end.

Captain Mushfiqur Rahim (9 from 7 – 1 four), Mahmudullah (9 from 8 – 1 four), Nasir Hossain (7 from 5 – 1 four), and Ziaur Rehman (9 from 8 – 1 six) all failed to stay at the crease and in the end Bangladesh fell 34 runs short of their target.

Josh Davey and Majid Haq both captured three scalps each for 23 and 27 runs respectively while Gordon Drummond, Gordon Goudie, and Preston Mommsen contributed with one wicket apiece for 15, 29, and 23 runs respectively.

Richie Berrington was declared Man of the Match for his brilliant hundred, which was the first century ever scored by a Scottish player in Twenty20 Internationals.