Photo: The daily Nation
New Zealand survived a real scare when they managed to beat Scotland by 3 wickets and make it two in two in the ICC World Cup 2015. The Scottish players played their heart out but in the end could not manage to match Ireland’s heroics on the previous day.
Batting first Scotland suffered some early collapse which was temporarily taken care of by Machan and Berrington. But once the 97-run partnership was broken it was curtains down for Scotland. New Zealand put up a real dominant show with the bat as they picked up all wickets within 36.2 overs and gave away just 142 runs. Daneil Vettori and Corey Anderson picked up three wickets each while Tim Southee and Trent Boult had two scalps beside their name on the scoresheet.
It seemed that the Kiwis will have it easy and we were set for an early finish. But the Scots had different ideas. Their disciplined bowling rattled the Kiwi top order and at one time in real trouble having lost 3 wickets with just 66 runs on the board. Kane Williamson and Grant Eliot weathered the early but could not get their nation past the finishing line. In the end Daniel Vettori edged one over the slip cordon to bring some relief in the Kiwi camp. That somewhat summed New Zealand’s day in the middle; this was a mixed bag for them.
Photo: India Today
However the performance from the bowlers will surely make the think tank a bit relaxed. But the batting really needs to be looked after. On the other hand it can be said that if Scotland manages to keep up today’s performance with the ball and if they can back it up with responsible batting, may be, you never know they give the bigger boys a run for their money.
Tags: ICC World Cup 2015
