NZ vs SCO T20 WC Highlights: New Zealand beat Scotland by 16 runs

It was a brilliant effort from Scotland to bring the game close – particularly from Michael Leask, who remained unbeaten on 42 off just 20 deliveries as Scotland end on 15/5 in 20 overs. New Zealand register their second victory of the Super 12.

13 runs off Southee’s 19th over, but it’s a classic case of ‘so near, yet so far’. An excellent fight from Scotland but they might just fall short in this run-chase.

Sodhi did take two important wickets in the game, but conceded 42 runs off his four overs. Michael Leask ends his final over with three successive boundaries – a six and two fours.

Scotland need 39 runs to win from 12 balls.

Safe to say, only formalities remain. Berrington is the latest to perish as he attempts to slap a length ball from Sodhi towards midwicket. The batter finds a top-edge and is caught easily by wicketkeeper Devon Conway, who sprints towards short third man.

Scotland 108/5 in 16 overs. Target – 173

Macleod’s misery ends as he is dismissed on 12 off 15 deliveries. Trent Boult gets his second wicket. Macleod goes across the crease to set himself up for a paddle-scoop, Boult senses the shot and bowls a fullish delivery onto the stumps. 

The batter misses the line completely, with the ball castling his stumps.

Scotland 103/4 in 15 overs. Target – 173

Following the wickets of Munsey and Cross in successive overs, the required run-rate has jumped to 12.17. Scotland require 73 runs in six overs to pull out the biggest upset in this edition of the T20 World Cup so far.

Scotland 100/3 in 14 overs

Experience triumphs. Tim Southee dismisses Matthew Cross!

Southee keeps it back of the length and the ball cuts into the right-hander sharply. Cross shuffles with his shot and tries to play the ball across the line, but misses it completely.

A two-paced innings from Cross, who took 29 balls for his 27 — which include 20 runs in an over.

Scotland 77/3 in 11 overs

Scotland had a shaky start as they lost their captain Kyle Coetzer early, but Adam Milne’s 20-run over caused a momentum shift. New Zealand are still prime favourites for now, as Scotland require 97 runs to win from 60 deliveries.

Can the Scots pull out an upset here?

Googly? A normal leg-spin? Munsey didn’t seem to care much as he hit Ish Sodhi off for two sixes. However, the reckless approach eventually cost him for the third time – ironically, Munsey gives his wicket away on a full-toss. He is caught at long-on while aiming for a third six of the over.

Scotland 66/2 in 7.5 overs 

What a turn in fortunes for Milne. He bowled a maiden in the previous over, and then concedes five fours in six deliveries against Matthew Cross! 

A turnaround for Cross as well, who couldn’t put bat to ball properly in Milne’s first over. 

Scotland 48/1 in 6 overs. Target – 173

No run from Adam Milne’s first over as Matthew Cross is all at sea. Brilliant variations from Milne as he troubles Cross with pace. The batter gets beaten on four of six deliveries in the over. 

Scotland 25/1 in 4 overs. Target – 173

Kyle Coetzer departs! Trent Boult sets the Scottish captain brilliantly as New Zealand get the breakthrough. He starts with a short-pitched delivery first-up, and then takes the pace away completely to bowl a fuller one. Coetzer, who had already committed to flick, gives away an easy catch at mid-on.

Scotland 25/1. Target – 173

The captain kickstarts his innings with a solid four through the covers, and ends Trent Boult’s first over with a flick towards deep midwicket.

Scotland 9/0 in 1 over. Target: 173

Scotland openers Kyle Coetzer and George Munsey arrive at the crease for the run-chase.

The Kiwis had a shaky start to their innings, losing Mitchell and Wiliamson in a single over inside the Powerplay, but Martin Guptill held his end and helped stabilise the innings alongside Glenn Phillips to take New Zealand to a strong total.

Guptill misses his century by merely seven runs. An excellent knock from the opener comes to an end. Bradley Wheal picks two in two but misses his hat-trick.

Guptill looked out of steam way before his dismissal but continued on his onslaught nevertheless. In a bid to further up the ante, Guptill goes for a lofted shot down the ground, but is caught at long-on.

New Zealand 163/5 in 19 overs

Phillips’ uneventful stay on the wicket ends. He departs on 33 off 36 deliveries. The batter never looked settled and even as he helped stabilise NZ’s innings alongside Guptill, Phillips would be disappointed with his knock.

New Zealand 157/4 in 18.2 overs

More than half of New Zealand’s runs have come from Martin Guptill’s bat as he enters the 90s. Already the second-highest score of this edition so far, as Guptill is currently unbeaten on 92.

New Zealand 150/3 in 17 overs

These are tough conditions but the New Zealand opener has battled the heat with enormous grit so far. He slams a slower length delivery for a monstrous six towards midwicket and gets down on his knees, but doesn’t let the heat affect his game. 

A quick two and another six to end Sharif’s third over.

New Zealand 137/3 in 16 overs

Easy runs for the New Zealand batters in the last few overs as momentum shifts in the game. Guptill, in particular, is finding runs at will. The opener has hit six fours and four sixes so far.

Despite the wickets, New Zealand have managed to keep an impressive run-rate. Scotland have been undisciplined with the ball, and Guptill has made sure of charging big against the bad deliveries.

New Zealand 106/3 in 13 overs

An excellent innings for the right-hander. A naturally-aggressive batter, Guptill played to the situation after the quick wickets while punishing the bad deliveries, and reached his half-century in 35 deliveries. He reaches his fifty with a six.

He also breached the 3000-run mark during the innings, becoming the only second player in T20Is to do so after Virat Kohli.

The duo is putting on an important partnership after the quick wickets. They’ve added 40 runs off 35 deliveries and Phillips is now middling the ball well, contrary to the initial phase of the innings.

New Zealand 93/2 in 12 overs

Martin Guptill (39*) holds one end but wickets continued to fall on the other at regular intervals in the first ten overs. Glenn Phillips, the new batter on the crease, hasn’t looked comfortable as well, as he missed a couple of big hits in his short stay so far. He is batting on 6 off 12 balls.

Conway departs on the first ball after the Powerplay! Poor from the batter. Merely an over after the side lost its two highest-scorers from the previous game, an adventurous shot at such an early stage of the innings was always going to be a risk. 

Conway goes for a reverse-sweep but fails miserably at it, as wicketkeeper Mark Watt takes an easy catch.

New Zealand 54/3 in 7 overs

It was a strong start from Guptill and Mitchell, but Sharif’s second over really put a dent on New Zealand’s start. Onus on Guptill and Conway to steer the Kiwis innings away from trouble after early setbacks.

9 wides already and we’re not even done with the powerplay yet. Williamson did nick one for a wicket, but if Scotland bowlers are really bowling down the leg side as part of a wicket-taking strategy, it’s not a really good one.

Woah! The New Zealand captain departs! Sharif picks two in an over. Not a great length from the bowler as he goes down the leg-side, but Williamson, in a bid to find an easy boundary, nicks it for the keeper. A gift for Scotland.

New Zealand 36/2 in 5 overs

Sharif draws first blood! He removes Daryl Mitchell early in the innings. A length delivery from Sharif and it did seem to go over the stumps, and Mitchell wasted no time in taking the review after being given out. However, the ball barely clipped the top of stumps. No waste of review, however, as it was adjudged umpire’s call.

New Zealand 35/1 in 4.1 overs

Saafyan Sharif keeps it tight at the other end. He is not giving the batters much room outside off to operate, keeping the line either on the stumps or marginally outside. Good comeback from Scotland as they concede only 1 in the second over.

New Zealand 14/0 in 2 overs

Martin Guptill makes his intentions clear with a lofted slap over cover in the first over for a four. The opener has a great opportunity to regain his form in this game.

New Zealand 13/0 in 1 over

We are done with the national anthems and the players now take to the field. Martin Guptill and Daryl Mitchell open for New Zealand.

Martin Guptill needs only 24 more runs to score 3000 T20I runs. He will become the only second player in T20I history after Virat Kohli to breach the 3000-run mark.

Kohli leads the run-scoring chart with 3,225 runs in 92 T20Is.

Scotland: George Munsey, Kyle Coetzer(c), Matthew Cross(w), Richie Berrington, Calum MacLeod, Michael Leask, Chris Greaves, Mark Watt, Safyaan Sharif, Alasdair Evans, Bradley Wheal

New Zealand: Martin Guptill, Daryl Mitchell, Kane Williamson(c), Devon Conway(w), James Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Adam Milne, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Trent Boult

Kyle Coetzer (Scotland): “We are going to bowl. Setting total has been challenging. Davey is missing out due to a niggle, Evans comes in. We expected the challenges to go up, it’s a bit of a reality check, to be honest. We are not fearing any opposition, but are mindful of the challenges. What a time to be a Scottish cricketer (on playing New Zealand, India and Pakistan), these opportunities don’t come easy.

Kane Williamson (New Zealand): “We would have bowled as well, looks like a good surface. It’s important to do the job. We are playing with the same team. For us, it’s about maintaining the standard. There are match-winners in every side, so we need to focus. The guys in our side can play a variety of roles, so we are sticking to the same side.”

Scotland win toss, opt to bowl against New Zealand in Dubai

Kane Williamson is sporting New Zealand’s retro jersey for the game against Scotland. We’re ready for the toss in Match 32!

An unlikely victory for Scotland would give Virat Kohli and co. a big boost as they take on Afghanistan in the evening game in Abu Dhabi.

Team India requires New Zealand to lose one of their remaining three games in Super 12. After the match against Scotland, the Kiwis will take on Namibia (November 5) and Afghanistan (November 7).

This is Scotland’s first game in Dubai this tournament. They have won four out of the eight T20Is here.

New Zealand, meanwhile, defeated India in their last game at the venue.

New Zealand coach Gary Stead had admitted that they could be forced to rest Kane Williamson owing to an elbow injury during the upcoming five-day period, where the side will play three games. However, he is expected to play today.

Scotland’s captain Kyle Coetzer has also recovered from his finger injury and is likely to take the field.

The two sides have met only once in T20Is before – in the 2009 T20 World Cup.

In a rain-shortened game, Scotland put out an exemplary display with the bat, scoring 89/4 in 7 overs. Kyle Coetzer, the current captain of the side, had scored 33 off just 15 deliveries in the game. 

However, New Zealand chased down the target with an over to spare.

Kyle Coetzer’s men entered the Super 12 stage high on confidence, winning all of their three games in Round 1 – including a victory against Bangladesh. However, the side stumbled in Group 2 with a landslide defeat to Afghanistan (by 130 runs) in its opening game, and a four-wicket loss to Namibia.

Against New Zealand, Scotland will be aiming to improve on their performance.

The Kane Williamson-led side had a shaky start to the campaign against Pakistan, but New Zealand made amends in their next game against India as the side thoroughly outclassed Virat Kohli and co. by 8 wickets. It was an all-round performance with the ball for New Zealand, as all bowlers bar Mitchell Santner were among the wickets. Opener Daryl Mitchell also showed promise with an unbeaten 49 in the run-chase.

Hello and welcome to the live coverage of 2021 T20 World Cup, Match 32: New Zealand vs Scotland. The ‘BlackCaps’ gained momentum after a comprehensive 8-wicket win over India in their previous game, and will aim to continue on the good run against Scotland on Wednesday.