Scots hold on for narrow victory in qualifier

Scotland held on for a fourrun win over Papua New Guinea in their third T20 World Cup qualifier.

Captain Kyle Coetzer top-scored with 54 at the top of the order as Scotland posted 146 for six after winning the toss in Dubai.

Richie Berrington hit 22 before Matthew Cross added late impetus with an unbeaten 40 from 23 balls.

Papua New Guinea slipped from 81 for two to 113 for seven in the 17th over, but 33 from Norman Vanua left them needing nine from the final over.

Josh Davey took two wickets from the first two balls and conceded only four runs for figures of two for 23 while Hamza Tahir took three for 24.

The new era of The Hundred will begin without three of Twenty20 cricket’s most decorated veterans after Chris Gayle, Lasith Malinga and Dwayne Bravo went unsold at the inaugural draft.

Next year’s debut edition of the England and Wales Cricket Board’s 100-ball tournament took its biggest step yet towards becoming a reality with the eight citybased franchises signing the bulk of their squads in a live televised event.

With one England Test star and two “local icons” already allocated, the teams picked up 12 players apiece including three overseas names.

While Trent Rockets made 21-year-old Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan the number one pick and six Australians including Steve Smith and David Warner also landed the maximum £125,000 payday, the overlooked trio represented a changing of the guard.

Gayle is the leading runscorer in all T20 cricket, while Bravo and Malinga are the format’s top two wicket-takers, but all three franchise regulars were passed over.

Just 96 players were selected from a field of 571, with Lancashire allrounder Liam Livingstone the only Englishman cashing in during the first round.

Lewis Gregory, Liam Dawson, Sam Billings, Tom Abell and Phil Salt were all in the £100,000 bracket.

Captain Kyle Coetzer