Scots must face playoff after third defeat

Scotland were left waiting to discover their play-off opponents after suffering a third defeat in the T20 World Cup qualifiers.

The Scots lost by four wickets against Holland to finish fourth in Group A.

Their fate will be decided on Wednesday when they take on the loser of the play-off between Holland and UAE with a place in the finals in Australia in 12 months’ time up for grabs.

Scotland suffered a pre-match injury blow when Oli Hairs was ruled out with a broken metatarsal and they could only muster 130 in their innings.

Matthew Cross was by far their best performer with the bat, hitting 52 from 44 balls. Opener George Munsey was bowled out for seven and Calum Macleod only managed one run before being trapped lbw.

Scotland gave themselves hope with a positive start with the ball. Safyaan Sharif took a wicket in the first over with Josh Davey plucking Tobias Visee’s strike out of the air. Fellow opener Max O’dowd was caught out for five by Macleod off the bowling of Alasdair Evans.

But Ben Cooper (21) and Colin Ackermann (22) steadied the ship and Ryan Ten Doeschate hit an unbeaten half-century to take the Dutch home with three overs to spare.

However, the Dutch could not achieve the run-rate required to beat Papua New Guinea to top spot and automatic qualification.

Ireland sealed their place in Australia after finishing top of Group B following their victory over Nigeria on Saturday.

Oman, Canada or the United Arab Emirates could have knocked them off their perch but they all failed to capitalise on the final day.