WASHED AWAY
Rain ruins Scots’ bid for World Cup place
IN the end, there was something almost painfully poetic about the manner of Scotland’s defeat — about another World Cup, this time of the cricketing variety, missed by the smallest of margins.
And as the rain fell, the match against the West Indies having been ended prematurely by the weather, one would have been allowed to wonder just why a nation with such a temperamental climate had ever bothered to dabble in such a traditionally summer pursuit in the first place.
The conditions in Harare were more reminiscent of The Grange and the Scots had begun to look at home as they battled to the brink of World Cup qualification.
The Windies are not the force they once were, evidenced by the fact they are even in the position where they must qualify for the showpiece in England next year. Yet credit Scotland for restricting them to 198 all out and giving themselves a fighting chance of pulling off what would have been a truly momentous win.
Alas, mother nature had other ideas and, after manfully climbing to 125-5, the heavens opened and washed away their hopes of knocking out the two-time former champions.
Five runs behind under DLS rules, the Scots would return home cursing the dark clouds that had gathered over them.
Captain Kyle Coetzer was left to rue the decision to give Richie Berrington out lbw for 33 with the ball appearing to be heading down the legside — a moment that would prove pivotal in terms of the DLS method.
‘It would have been nice to have a wicket in hand from that decision, but that’s the nature of the game and it has cost us, it’s cost us a lot of money as well,’ said Coetzer.
The restructuring of the World Cup has been heavily criticised since it was announced that it would be cut from 14 to ten teams — meaning there was likely to be less opportunity for teams such as Scotland to test themselves on the world stage, and Coetzer suggested it had not been a popular decision among the associate nations.
‘I’m gutted for our guys and every friend, fan or associate nation that was behind us,’ he added. ‘There is a clear reason why everyone was behind us: because they wanted a point to be proved. We were within five runs.
‘I’m so proud of every single one of them. Credit to Jason (Windies skipper Jason Holder) and his boys, they won the game fair and square in the end, but a competition like this... DRS (Decision Review System)?
‘You’re playing with people’s livelihoods and there’s a lot of money at stake and it proved costly today.’
The result means the Windies qualify for the final of the World Cup qualifiers and with it the tournament proper, while Scotland miss out having suffered their second successive defeat of the Super Six stage.
After losing to Ireland on Sunday, Scotland enjoyed a dream start yesterday. Chris Gayle, who announced his return to international cricket with the intention of helping his nation qualify, was out first ball as Safyaan Sharif produced a beauty to have the big-hitting left-hander caught behind.
Things got even better when Shai Hope feathered one behind with the first ball of Sharif’s next over, and from two for two, West Indies were forced to rebuild.
Marlon Samuels and Evin Lewis gradually found more fluency as Scotland lost their discipline in a ragged display.
The pair put on 121 for the third wicket, but it took them almost 30 overs to do so before the impressive Brad Wheal had Lewis trapped lbw for 66. Samuels fell soon after as Scotland reasserted their grip on the match and — thanks to some fine death bowling from Sharif and Wheal — they managed to restrict them to just 198. Scotland slipped to 25 for three in reply and Calum MacLeod and Berrington were forced to take a leaf out of Lewis and Samuels’ book, establishing a partnership before the former toed one back to Ashley Nurse on 21.
Harry Munsey succeeded in upping the tempo but just as he and Berrington looked like they were putting the Saltires into a position of strength, Berrington was given out lbw in controversial fashion, with the ball appearing to be sliding down leg.
As the clouds drew in with Scotland behind the rate, Michael Leask made a last-ditch effort to try and get them up to the par score but the players were dragged off the pitch with Scotland 125 for five in the 36th over and rain meant the game had to be called off with them agonisingly short of realising their World Cup dream.