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Scots edge thriller as champs Ireland win WCL opener

In Thursday’s other matches, defending champions Ireland beat Kenya by seven wickets and Afghanistan enjoyed a six-wicket win over Canada in the leading one-day tournament for teams outside cricket’s Test elite.

In Amstelveen, near Amsterdam, Scotland were all but out of the match at 123 for six off 30 overs chasing 235, featuring 87 from Tom Cooper, for victory.

But late call-up Moneeb Iqbal’s innings of 63 kept Scotland in the game.

Moneeb and Gordon Goudie though fell in the space of three balls to leave Scotland 225 for nine, with all the pressure on captain Gordon Drummond.

A target of 10 off 10 balls became eight off the last over.

A frantic finale saw Tom de Grooth drop Drummond off Mark Jonkman’s penultimate delivery of the match, with Scotland still requiring three runs for victory.

The batsmen crossed for a single from de Grooth’s mistake. Then, with two needed Jonkman, bowling to last man Ross Lyons, delivered a wide to level the scores and with the batsmen running as well Scotland had won.

Drummond, unbeaten on 33, said: “It shows the character of the team. We just never give up and can put on partnerships down the order.”

Ireland, who competed alongside WCL rivals Afghanistan at this year’s World Twenty20 in the Caribbean, proved too strong for Kenya.

Paul Stirling hit a career-best 87 and Alex Cusack chipped in with an unbeaten 59 as they put on 127 runs to help Ireland to a modest target of 164 with more than 10 overs to spare in Rotterdam.

In Voorburg, fifties from captain Nawroz Mangal (70), Mohammad Shahzad (57) and Noor Ali (50) steered Afghanistan to a six-wicket victory over Canada as they reached a target of 258 with eight balls remaining.

Saturday sees Canada up against Scotland, Ireland playing Afghanistan and The Netherlands facing Kenya.

The top two sides from the all-play-all phase will qualify for the Amstelveen final on July 10.