T20 WC 2021: NZ vs SCO Review – New Zealand overcome gritty Scotland

New Zealand built on the confidence which they got from their win over India and added two more points to their tally. They defeated Scotland by 16 runs at Dubai International cricket stadium on November 3. It was a comprehensive win in the end set up by Martin Guptill and the collective show of the Blackcaps bowlers.

Earlier in the day, Scotland won the toss and elected to bowl first. The plan initially seemed to work with Safyaan Sharif removing Daryl Mitchell and Kane Williamson inside the powerplay. They were three wickets down when Mark Watt got rid of Devon Conway. However, Guptill stitched a fantastic partnership with Glenn Phillips, where the former was the aggressor.

Philips ended up making 33 runs from 37 balls, but Guptill blew away any hope that Scotland had. He eventually got out for 93 runs from 56 balls. James Neesham’s 6-ball 10 cameo helped the Kiwis finish on 172 for 5. Bradley Wheal got two wickets at death.

With the bat, Scotland did keep themselves in the game for a long time. George Munsey made 22, Kyle Coetzer made 17 while Matthew Cross got 27. Richie Berrington also scored 20 but it was Micheal Leask who gave New Zealand some sort of scare with his knock of 42 runs from 20 balls. For the Kiwis, Trent Boult and Ish Sodhi picked up two wickets each while Tim Southee got one scalp.

Top performers:

Martin Guptill:

On a hot and humid day, the Kiwi opener struggled to find his breath properly but did manage to stay on the crease to help his side out of trouble. His innings was very important, especially because batters around him either got out or couldn’t find their timing. He hit six fours and seven sixes, while the rest of his team hit only three boundaries.

Trent Boult: The left-arm seamer was once again showing all his skills and took the wickets of Kyle Coetzer and Calum MacLeod. He also gave only 29 runs from four overs.

Records/achievements:

• Martin Guptill became only the second batter in men’s T20Is after Virat Kohli to reach 3000 runs.
• Guptill became the first men’s batter to hit more than 150 sixes in T20Is.

Way ahead:

Scotland will now face India on November 5 while New Zealand’s next match is against Namibia on the same day.