🏏ICC Men's T20 World Cup : M7: SCO vs ITA at Kolkata on 09/02/26🏏 - Page 4

12:34 Local Time, 07:04 GMT, 12:34 IST: First 200+ total for Scotland in T20 World Cups. Inserted to bat, Munsey got going with a couple of boundaries. He was the aggressor for Scotland and did the bulk of the scoring. He got a reprieve on 41 and he made Italy pay as he doubled his score. Jones took his time to get going but Scotland's scoring rate was in the vicinity of 9 RPO throughout the innings. Munsey missed his ton by 16 runs, Jones followed him in the very next over, Brandon McMullen played some outrageously good shots and then Michael Leask applied the finish touches in the final over with an incredible cameo (5-ball 22*). For Italy, Ali Hasan was the pick of the bowlers who finished with figures of 1/21 which also included a brilliant 19th over. In the 4th over, their captain Wayne Madsen dislocated his left shoulder while trying to stop that ball

Over Summary (1-6 ov)

* Wicket first ball, Justin Mosca falls to Leask.

* A quiet over from Currie.

* Wheel taken to the cleaners - 23 runs off the over.

* Currie deceives Smuts with a slower ball.

* Anthony Mosca perishes against Watt.

* Harry Manenti caps off the power play with a flat six.

SCO 207-4(20)

ITA 59-3(7)

CRR:8.43

REQ:11.46

Italy need 149 runs in 78 balls

I was about to say, Italy is catching up and they lost a wicket.

Not that I favor anyone team. Just loving the contest.

Oliver Davidson to Ben Manenti, out Caught by Michael Jones!! Ben Manenti c Michael Jones b Oliver Davidson 52(31) [4s-5 6s-1]

Oliver Davidson to Ben Manenti, THATS OUT!! Caught!!

16

0 0 1 0 1 W (2 runs)

ITA 133-8

Thomas Draca

2(5)

Crishan Kalugamage

2(4)

Mark Watt

4-0-24-2

15.6

W

Mark Watt to Thomas Draca, out Caught by Brandon McMullen!! Yet another catch in the deep. Full on off, Thomas Draca sinks low to slogsweep, a flat hit and he picks out long-on. McMullen didn't have to move an inch. Came straight at him. The end is near now. Thomas Draca c Brandon McMullen b Mark Watt 2(5)

Mark Watt to Thomas Draca, THATS OUT!! Caught!!

SCOT 207/4

ITA

(16.2/20 ov, T:208) 134/8

Italy need 74 runs in 22 balls.

CRR: 8.22

• RRR: 19.56

• Last 5 ov (RR): 32/5 (6.40)

A fairly one-sided contest in the end. Italy showed signs of promise when Smuts found the fence a few times in the powerplay but it was only when the Manenti brothers got together that they mustered any sort of momentum. Both struck the ball well and while they were at the crease, it felt Italy could give this score a proper rattle. They fell close to each other, though, and that signaled the beginning of the end for Italy.

Scotland will be thrilled with their bowling display. They held their nerve, stuck to their plans and held onto almost every catch that came their way. Leask was the star of the show, bagging a four-wicket haul. Currie was not shabby either, with Watt at his usual economic best. Scotland may have anyway expected to win this game but with the matches coming up, this might just be the ideal confidence-booster for them.

Michael Leask | Player of the Match: For me it was just the full team performance today. It has been a lot of hard work coming into this tournament. Shows the dedication we have done. Boys will give me stick for getting the right-handers but to get three of them is nice. If it's in my arc, it has to go. I wear my heart on my sleeve and today was no different. We learnt a lot from game one. More of a back of a length and into the surface. The surface gave help to the spinners today. Got lucky today. You're always proud to represent Scotland whenever we get the chance.

Richie Berrington | Scotland captain: Really important for us to bounce back strong today. Really important to get the first win today. 200 on that was a good score on a very good wicket. He is such an important player for us at the top of the order. He certainly is a hard batsman to bowl to when he gets going. It gave us the platform to accelerate later on. It was really pleasing to see after the previous game. We nailed that area today. Great to see guys coming out and play well in that phase of the game. We knew they got a lot of good players in that lineup. It put us on the front foot when we got wickets. Really pleased that the bowlers stuck to their plans and got a couple of wickets which helped in defending that score. It's great that we've had two outings here in Eden Gardens. We will enjoy this win and we have got a few days before we face England. I think the guys have really embraced that, we have got really got good prep coming into here.

Harry Manenti | Italy vice-captain: Wayne had a tough fall in that powerplay there, dislocated his shoulder, more to come on that. He is our leader, that's probably the sad thing for him not to show that on the world stage. That was a good total, we thought going into the break, they got just above-par. We back ourselves to chase it. It wasn't our day. When you are chasing 200, you need to go hard and when you are playing a quality side like Scotland, you need to keep yourselves in the game till the end. That was pretty special and didn't quite get it as we were caught up in the game. Playing backyard cricket with him and to do it in a World Cup game is special. I imagine the guys will be pretty flat in the changeroom. That doesn't mean we are out. In a few days' time we will face a strong Nepal team and hope we do well.

Congratulations to Scotland for winning the match.

Congratulations to Michael Leask for winning the Player of the match award.

NRR -1.75 to +0.95, what a turn around!

Cheers..

Congratulations to Scotland for their win against Italy.