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.

Scotland lost by four wickets against Holland in their sixth and final group game to finish fourth in Group A.

On Wednesday they will take on the loser of the game between the teams finishing second and third in Group B for a place at the finals, with the make-up of that match being decided late yesterday.

Ireland sit top of Group B and were awaiting the result of the final game between Canada and UAE to determine whether they stay there and seal a place in the finals in Australia.

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 bowled 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.

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, Holland could not achieve the run rate required to beat Papua New Guinea to automatic qualification.