Scotland on Sunday pulled off a shock six-run victory over Bangladesh at the T20 World Cup thanks to a man-of-the-match performance from a former Amazon delivery driver as Oman handed debutants Papua New Guinea (PNG) a 10-wicket rout.
In the unlikely surroundings of a 3,000-seat stadium on the outskirts of Muscat, after the global showpiece was chased out of India by COVID-19, Scotland recovered from 53-6 to stun the Tigers, ranked sixth in the world.
Chris Greaves’ 28-ball 45 guided Scotland to 140-9 and he then took two key wickets with his leg spin to restrict Bangladesh to 134-7.
Photo: AP
Greaves, 31, and playing just his second T20 international, sent back Shakib Al Hasan (20) and Mushfiqur Rahim (38) to dent Bangladesh’s chase.
Pace bowler Brad Wheal returned figures of 3-24 as Bangladesh suffered an early setback in their fight to make the Super 12.
“Really proud of Greaves, he had to sacrifice a lot. He was delivering parcels for Amazon not long ago and now he’s getting man of the match and playing against Bangladesh,” Scotland skipper Kyle Coetzer said.
Scotland are second in the early Group B table, just behind Oman. The top two teams advance into the next stage and join the heavyweights in the seventh edition of the T20 World Cup.
Greaves, who does not have a central contract with Cricket Scotland, said he was delighted with his all-round display.
“We were in a tough situation, obviously, and it doesn’t always go that way,” Greaves said. “It was just to rebuild the innings at that stage and see where we could go from there. I was happy to be that person. With the score on the board, you’ve got something to bowl at.”
The only bright spot for Bangladesh was Shakib taking two wickets that allowed him to surpass Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga as the leading wicket-taker in T20 internationals.
The 34-year-old all-rounder now has 108 wickets in 89 matches since his debut in 2006.
“Bowlers did their job really well, but the batting unit wasn’t good enough,” Bangladesh captain Mahmudullah Riyad said.
Earlier, Oman skipper Zeeshan Maqsood returned figures of 4-20, which included three in one over, as tournament debutants PNG struggled to 129-9.
Openers Aqib Ilyas (50 from 43 balls) and Jatinder Singh (73 from 42) then clattered the PNG bowlers around the ground without being parted to steer Oman home with 6.2 overs to spare.
PNG captain Assad Vala, who made 56 off 43 balls, and Charles Amini, who smashed 37, had briefly given their team hope with an attacking third-wicket partnership of 81.
“They were batting very well when I got the wickets, and because we got the wickets, they couldn’t put on a big total,” Maqsood said.
Maqsood sent back Norman Vanua, Sese Bau and Kiplin Doriga in the space of five deliveries, and later took one more as PNG, who had been 0-2 at one stage, collapsed from 102-3.
“It wasn’t a good start with the bat, losing two wickets with no runs,” Vala said.
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