Scotland let series slip after reserve day drama

SCOTLAND V NAMIBIA ROUND-UP

SCOTLANDwon one and lost one of their World Cricket League matches with Namibia earlier this week.

In the first match that started on Sunday and ran into the reserve day of Monday, the Scots came through at Grange’s Portgower Place ground in Edinburgh by 51 runs (via DLS) after they bowled Namibia out for 217.

On Sunday, Scotland had posted 268-5 from their 43 overs with Richie Berrington hitting a superb 110.

With the ball on Monday, all six Scottish bowlers used took wickets while there were some smart catches taken.

“It was a bit of a strange one having to come back on a second day and finish the match off, but I thought we showed real focus during the warm-up and the guys were on the mark with the ball straight away,” Berrington said.

“They did not let the Namibians settle and that was crucial because we know they have some big hitters up the top of the order who can cause some damage.

“Every bowler stuck to their plans well while at this level you have to field well and we did that, guys clinging on to some tricky catches in a tough wind which was swirling around.

“On day one I thought Craig Wallace brought some urgency to our running between the wickets and Preston Mommsen batted well with myself to set quite a good total.”

On Tuesday, Scotland skipper Kyle Coetzer hit a century, but his side lost at the same ground.

An attacking batting display, including a swashbuckling 78 from 53 balls opening the batting from Stephan Baard, helped Namibia to win by 50 runs as 324-5 played 274-9.

Coetzer, who made 112, said: “I thought that Namibia batted really well early on and that put us on the back foot.

“We tried to claw things back, but we thought the total they scored was perhaps 40 runs or so more than we would have hoped.

“With the bat we were always just behind the run rate and had to try and force things.”