Scotland will lock horns against West Indies in the third match of the Super Six that will take place on Saturday at the Harare Sports Club, Zimbabwe. The match has a greater significance as the winner will put a step further in the ICC Cricket World Cup that will be taking place later this year in India.
Richie Berrington’s Scots are currently in great form as they have only recorded a single loss against favorites, Sri Lanka. On the other hand, the Windies are currently going through a tough time following consecutive losses in the qualifying stage.
While the batting has been performing decently, West Indies’ bowling has been consistently disappointing. On the other hand, Scottish all-rounders have been ruling the World Cup qualifiers, and they are also enjoying eminent support from batters as well as bowlers.
What have they done so far?
Scotland started their campaign with two warm-up matches against West Indies and Zimbabwe. Interestingly, they suffered from thumping defeats in both fixtures. However, when they got on the actual plane, they triumphed over European arch-rivals, Andrew Balbirnie’s Ireland in a thrilling contest. Michael Leask and Brandon McMullen were the pair of protagonists behind the spectacular win over the Irish team with a 91-run inning and a five-wicket haul respectively.
In the next match, they lashed the United Arab Emirates win a 111-run win. Scotland’s skipper, Richie Berrington played a remarkable 127-run innings in just 136 deliveries to help his side reach a total of 282. Consequently, after being given a massive total, the Scottish Saltires were top-notch with their bowling too. Ending UAE’s innings at 171, they captured an easy win in the second match.
The third match witnessed similar results but this time, Brandon McMullen supported the Scottish inning with an incredible ton. He scored 136 off 121 balls before getting dismissed against Bilal Khan. Thus, after posting a target of 321, Richie Berrington and co were confident that they’ll grasp the win and they rightfully did the same.
After fifty overs, Oman only managed to score 244 runs, losing the contest by 76 runs. However, their fourth match, which took place against Sri Lanka resulted in their only group-stage defeat, as they lost by 82 runs. However, their bowling line-up still delivered as Chris Greaves managed to pick up 4 wickets.
On the flip side, the Windies played their warm-up matches against the likes of Scotland and UAE. They defeated the Scots by a margin of 91 runs, however, the consequences in the Super Six will be utterly different following the recent form of both sides. Playing their first official World Cup qualifier, they locked horns against the United States. After losing the opening pair early, the combined effort of the middle order helped the West Indies post a match-winning target of 298.
The Americans failed to chase the target as their innings ended at 258. In the next match, it seemed likes beating Nepal was an easy deal for the Windies as they won the match by 101 runs and took a huge heap in net run rate. However, the agony started when they faced the hosts, Zimbabwe.
A confident Caribbean side stopped the Chevrons at a total of 268 but the total eventually turned out to be too large for Shai Hope’s XI. Losing wickets continuously and not being able to play against Tendai Chatara and Richard Ngarava, the whole Windies side was back in the pavilion at 233, losing the match by 35 runs.
In the last group stage match, the Caribbean was expected to triumph over the Netherlands. However, fans got to witness the exact opposite. Batting first after losing the toss against the Oranje, Nicholas Pooran steered his side with a ton to a mammoth total of 374.
However, the Dutch batting line-up had something else in their mind on that day. Teja Nidamanuru (111) and skipper Scott Edwards (67) didn’t discriminate and smashed every bowler for a bunch of big hits, eventually, forcing the match into a draw.
The Netherlands came to bat first in the Super Over. Logan van Beek and Scott Edwards were the chosen pair. Nevertheless, Beek actually hammered the final nail in the coffin of the Windies with 30 runs on the super over against experienced Jason Holder. In addition to that, he later came to bowl in the next over and took the wickets of Johnson Charles and Romario Shepherd to capture the victory with a ball remaining.
Head to Head Record
Scotland and the West Indies have squared off against each other officially on three occasions and all the times, the Scots have to face agony. However, things were different during the times as all of their official meetings took place in the last couple of decades when West Indies was one of the most fearsome teams in world cricket.
The West Indies have never lost a match against Scotland
Coincidentally, the two sides also brawled against each other in the warm-up phase, where Shai Hope’s side recorded an easy win. In the match, West Indies’ bowling line-up performed exceptionally well especially Yannic Cariah and Roston Chase. Conversely, since the start of the qualification stage, their bowling line-up has been constantly underperforming.
Key Players
Brandon McMullen (Scotland): Choosing between Brandon McMullen and Scottish skipper Richie Berrington was difficult. However, McMullen’s role in the team is technically more important. He is a right-arm medium-fast bowler who comes to bat at the third spot. He has already smashed a ton in the qualifying stage in addition to a five-wicket haul in the opening match.
Moreover, the Scottish side is using the 23-year-old as a part-time bowler, however, he’s known how to give his side a breakthrough, even in clutch situations. Thus, if McMullen manages to stay on the pitch for a longer time and score some good runs, the Scots can surely win the contest.
Nicholas Pooran (West Indies): Nicholas Pooran has a lot of experience. He also scored an incredible century against the Netherlands in hopes to give his side a win. However, that didn’t happen as they lost the match in the Super Over. Nevertheless, only Pooran has yet shown the risk-taking factor for the Windies.
Thus, Pooran scoring big against Scotland is the only key that can ultimately lead the Windies to a win. However, a better-combined bowling effort can also be beneficial for the Caribbean representatives.
Predicted XIs
Scotland: Tom Mackintosh, Chris Greaves, Brandon McMullen, Richie Berrington ©, Matthew Cross (wk), Chris Sole, Mark Watt, Safyaan Sharif, Michael Leask George Munsey, Christopher McBride
West Indies: Brandon King, Kyle Mayers, Johnson Charles, Shai Hope © (wk), Nicholas Pooran, Rovman Powell, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Romario Shepherd, Alzarri Joseph, Yannic Cariah
Prediction
Despite losing their last two matches against Zimbabwe and the Netherlands, the West Indies are still the favorites to find a spot in the upcoming World Cup alongside Sri Lanka. Scotland has also been in a rampaging form recently, however, to upset the Windies, they have to bring something from outside of the box.