England managed to keep their hopes to remain alive in the T20 World Cup for a Super Eight spot after squeezing past a vital victory against Scotland by scoring 8 points in Group C on Saturday.
The loss to the West Indies in the tournament resulted in a situation where there was only one thing to do: to win. Adil Rashid used his brilliant bowling and turned it around just when the three wickets began to give them some hope, and eventually, it was Tom Banton that stitched a composed player so much needed by the English.
Rashid Wipes Out Scotland’s Middle Order
The top guys from Scotland batted first, notching up 152 (all out), coming to the end of the 19th over.
Scots were in control to score heavily at 113/3 in 12.3 overs to aim for 180-plus; nevertheless, in the next hour, their innings lost several wickets while registering just 14 runs.
Rashid stopped it in the middle by dismissing captain Richie Berrington for his well-composed innings (49 off 30), followed by the fall of Matthew Cross and Mark Watt in consecutive overs due to his 3/36.
Liam Dawson joined the attack with 2/34, seeing a total change in momentum-with Scotland tumbling down from 113/3 to 127/1.
It was a massive deficit for Scotland to make up, and thanks to Josh Davey’s spell of 2/2 earlier to remove Banton and Denly within 11 balls. Unfortunately, what neither opening bowler nor the bowlers after him were able to do was to maintain a consistent line and length.
Scotland lost the plot early in the run-chase as they were getting nowhere quickly with a score of 10/2. Even though the game was meant to be one without Scotland’s two key players in the Glasgow-born Richie Berrington and the challenger George Munsey, England’s Jofra Archer wasn’t messing about in his first over.
What truly mattered at the end of the day was the patience and perseverance of George Mertz and Jon Healy getting Scotland over the line in a tense finish.
Ambrose made Healy work hard, even if his 18 runs took 59 balls, but Wolverhamincs scored their third career championship victory with a fourth-innings chase, giving confidence to Hacktelet and his compound as they bid to challenge for promotion to Division One next year. It was an excellent home debut for Healy and Mertz.
Hence, Scotland cruised into the final overs in spite of fair progress until the slow left-armer David Wiese grasped the opportunity and bowled himself four for in the space of 16 balls, mostly due to a combination of bad overconfidence and 2-3 cracks into edges being claimed off his wing.
Ollie Robinson, who struck the only other fifty of the match, shared a super crucial partnership with Crane, which yielded just 20 runs. Conversely, Crane had a spectacular fourth inning. He held four wickets of only 10 runs in a front foot, benefiting from a batsman misjudging his ball.
Will Jacks added icing to the cake, hitting a six and a four away off Brad Wheal to seal victory after finishing 18.2 overs.
So What’s Next on the plate for England?
With that win, England now sits second in Group C on four points. They will take on Italy for a must-win clash to formalize their place in the Super Eights on Monday.
