Scotland lost to New Zealand by 16 runs but put up a huge fight before going down. New Zealand put up a challenging total of 172 and Scotland made 156 trying their hardest as the underdog.
Guptill withstands Scotland’s fiery bowling
Scotland did a superb job at the start, getting Daryll Mitchell early and then eking out Kane Williamson who didn’t even score a single run. Seamer Safyaan Sharif bagged both wickets with his swing bowling exhibition. Then tight-line bowler Mark Watt also got rid of Devon Conway and New Zealand saw themselves at 52 for 3. However, Martin Guptill fought through heat, humidity, and tough Scottish bowling to carve out an innings of 93 runs and Glenn Phillips formed a 104 runs partnership with him.
Safyaan Sharif returned yet another impressive spell with two wickets for 28 runs in four overs. Mark Watt remained economical, giving a paltry 13 runs in four overs for a wicket. The rest of the bowlers couldn’t hold conjure up tight lines and lengths with Guptill hitting long shots.
Scottish batters give New Zealand a scare
Kyle Coetzer went off to a flyer, making 17 in 11 as Boult had his wicket. Then Matthew Cross hit Adam Milne for five fours in a row. Just in a short time, George Munsey hit two sixes off Sodhi but both the batters couldn’t make big scores, falling in the 20s. After a tight period of bowling, Micahel Leask teed off in the latter parts of the innings but the asking rate had already climbed out of hand. Leask top-scored for Scotland with 42 runs in just 20 balls.
Trent Boult gave 29 runs in four overs for 2 wickets. Meanwhile, Mitchell Santner kept it tight with 23 runs in just four overs. Tim Southee had an impressive spell of 24 runs in four overs for a wicket. Meanwhile, Adam Milne gave 36 runs in four overs while Sodhi conceded the most amount of runs, squandering 42 in his 4 overs for 2 wickets.