Scotland maintained their 100 percent winning record to enter the Super 12 of the Men's T20 World Cup 2021. They beat Oman by eight wickets at the Al Amerat Cricket Ground to top Group B and join India, Pakistan, New Zealand and Afghanistan in Group 2. Bangladesh, who finished second, are placed in Group 1, with England, Australia, South Africa and West Indies. The remaining two spots will be filled by tomorrow, 22 October, after the last round of Group A encounters.
Chasing a below-par 123, Scotland looked confident in front of the local crowd in Oman. George Munsey and Kyle Coetzer added 33 in 28 balls before the former holed out Fayyaz Butt to Jatinder Singh at deep mid wicket. But Coetzer continued, scoring 41 off 28 balls with three sixes and two fours. He and Matthew Cross stitched 42 before Khawar Ali gave Oman the much-needed breakthrough by cleaning up Coetzer.
At No. 4, Richie Berrington was steady in approach, and took the game away. Cross held the fort from the other end, as they reached the target with three overs to spare.
Earlier in the evening, Scottish bowlers made the best use of the conditions to bundle out Oman for 122 in exactly 20 overs after the latter opted to bat. Josh Davey did the most damage for Scotland, with 3-25, while the spinners, Mark Watt, Chris Greaves and Michael Leask conceded just 45 in nine overs, taking three wickets. Safyaan Sharif had 2-25.
Oman lost Jatinder Singh without scoring after a mix-up between him and Aqib Ilyas found them at the same end of the pitch. Ilyas (37), Mohammad Nadeem (25) and Zeeshan Maqsood (34) failed to convert their starts into substantial scores. The rest failed to make an impact with bat. In fact, none of them could not even score in excess of 7.
Brief Scores: Oman 122 in 20 overs (Aqib Ilyas 37; Josh Davey 3-25) lost to Scotland 123/2 in 17 overs (Kyle Coetzer 41; Fayyaz Butt 1-26) by 8 wickets and 18 balls to spare. Player of the Match: Josh Davey.