MacLeod shines in Scotland victory

■ “I genuinely thought that we were going to score a goal. It would have been a huge disappointment if we hadn’t.

■ “I know there’s 10 men there but that shook us for a bit.

■ “The man of the match for them was the goalkeeper, he was magnificent . . . and the crossbar was good as well.

■ “We had all these great performances and what you get is the footballing Gods deciding to give us a victory.” Calum MacLeod hit a brilliant 154 to help Scotland secure an important 101-run win against Papua New Guinea at Amini Park in the World Cricket League Championship.

The Saltires move into second and ahead of their opponents after making a winning start to the two-match series, which puts them in a strong position to reach the 2018 World Cup qualifier.

After winning the toss and electing to bat, Scotland suffered an early blow through the loss of Matt Cross in just the third over.

However, MacLeod stabilised the innings with Kyle Coetzer (46) before a mammoth third-wicket partnership of 166.

Richie Berrington, on the back of a fine century in the four-day match, made 54, but it was MacLeod who dominated the stand with a fifth one-day international century.

However, they lost seven wickets inside the last seven overs to restrict their total to 278 for nine.

Alasdair Evans made immediate inroads in the PNG reply and it never recovered after Safyaan Sherif struck to reduce the score to 30 for three.

Michael Leask took two wickets in the 32nd over to reduce the hosts to 122 for seven before they were eventually bowled out for 177 to give Scotland a comfortable win.

Calum MacLeod