Scots brought back to earth after their England heroics
SCOTLAND head coach Grant Bradburn admitted his team were ‘gutted’ after failing to make it two big scalps in the space of three days following defeat to Pakistan last night. The Scots returned to the Grange in edinburgh — the scene of their historic victory over england in Sunday’s oDI — looking to cause another shock in the first match of their Twenty20 international double-header. however, Pakistan, ranked best T20 team in the world, were too hot to handle. They made 204-4 before Scotland made 156-6 to lose by 48 runs. ‘We’re gutted, which is a great sign of where our team is at,’ said Bradburn. ‘We backed ourselves to compete and win against this team and we’re disappointed we didn’t manage that. We’re not just about competing. We were about 50 runs short in the end and I sense there was 30 runs in the bowling and 20 runs with the bat that we left out there. We will be better for the experience.’ The home side made the breakthrough in the fourth over, Ali evans having Ahmed Shehzad caught by Richie Berrington for 14. And then evans was at it again, forcing Fakhar Zaman to sky one to keeper Matt Cross. That left Pakistan on 46-2 and hussain Talat and skipper Sarfraz Ahmed then settled down to leave their side set on 82-2 at halfway. Talat was out for 18 in the next over before Ahmed and Shoaib Malik really took things to Scotland. Debutant hamza Tahir conceded 57 runs from his four overs while, in the 17th over, Mark Watt was hit for three sixes as both batsmen brought up their half centuries, Malik off just 23 deliveries. evans got rid of Malik for 53, but Ahmed went on to make 89 not out off 49 balls. Scotland opened up with George Munsey and captain Kyle Coetzer — and the former hit a reverse sweep for six to get things up and running. The 50 came up in the fifth over and it looked good. however, Pakistan made the breakthrough in the sixth over, hasan Ali having Munsey caught behind for 25. Things got worse for Scotland when Berrington was bowled by Shadab Khan for just three. And when Coetzer and Sunday’s matchwinner Calum MacLeod fell for 31 and 12, respectively, the visitors were firmly in control. Some defiant late hitting from Michael Leask (38 not out) warmed the crowd, but it was to be Pakistan’s day. The second T20 takes place today at the same venue at 4pm.