McMullen shines as Scotland end West Indies’ World Cup hopes

Brandon McMullen shone with bat and ball as Scotland earned one other landmark victory over West Indies to maintain their ICC Males’s Cricket World Cup goals alive.

Having crushed the identical opponents in final yr’s ICC Males’s T20 World Cup, Scotland repeated the feat with a seven-wicket success which had McMullen at its coronary heart.

The all-rounder claimed three for 32 earlier than scoring 69 within the profitable reply as Scotland received house with 6.3 overs to spare, Matthew Cross hitting the successful runs to complete unbeaten on 74.

The defeat ends West Indies’ probabilities of making it to India whereas Scotland now face two crunch encounters, beginning in opposition to hosts Zimbabwe on Tuesday.

Richie Berrington opted to discipline upon successful the toss and the choice was shortly vindicated with 4 wickets falling contained in the opening powerplay.

McMullen eliminated each Johnson Charles and Shamarh Brooks with out scoring, Chris McBride and Mark Watt respectively taking sharp catches, earlier than holding on to a return catch to dismiss Brandon King (22) as Windies slipped to 25 for 3.

That grew to become 30 for 4 when Chris Sole received in on the act, sending Kyle Mayers’ off stump cartwheeling out the bottom.

Captain Shai Hope (13) and Nicholas Pooran (21) led a quick restoration however when the latter picked out McBride at deep mid-wicket, West Indies had been reeling on 81 for six within the twenty first over.

A 77-run stand between Jason Holder (45) and Romario Shepherd (36) carried the rating in direction of respectability however each fell in consecutive overs, Safyaan Sharif holding on to an outstanding diving catch to dismiss Shepherd and hand Watt his second scalp.

Sole and Chris Greaves additionally completed with two wickets apiece as they accounted for the tail, leaving West Indies bowled out for 181 with 6.1 overs unused.

Understanding they wanted to defend it to maintain their qualification hopes intact, West Indies made an ideal begin with the ball as McBride chipped the primary ball of the run chase to mid-wicket.

That was pretty much as good because it received for the fielding aspect, nonetheless, as McMullen and Cross took management.

The pair had been blissful to rotate the strike and fast to punish something free, with McMullen first to his half century, which got here from 85 deliveries.

Cross adopted swimsuit shortly afterwards, boosted by three consecutive boundaries off the bowling of Kevin Sinclair, however he misplaced the corporate of McMullen when he holed out to long-on with 57 required.

George Munsey (18) additionally picked out a boundary fielder however captain Berrington joined Cross to finish the job, the wicketkeeper-batter sealing the take care of a pull by way of deep mid-wicket to seal Scotland’s first-ever ODI victory over West Indies.

Two unbeaten sides go head-to-head

A blockbuster battle in Bulawayo headlines Sunday’s motion as the 2 sides at present occupying the 2 qualification spots, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, face off.

A public viewing and gathering website has been arrange in Harare the place followers can expertise the ICC Males’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2023 euphoria when Zimbabwe face Sri Lanka in a Tremendous Six match on Sunday.

Each side are but to lose a match within the Qualifier up to now and the victor can take an enormous step in direction of sealing their spot on the ICC Males’s Cricket World Cup 2023.

In Harare, Nepal tackle United Arab Emirates within the second play-off semi-final. The winner will play Eire within the Seventh-place play-off, with the crushed aspect to tackle USA within the Ninth-place play-off.

Scores briefly

Scotland beat West Indies at Harare Sports activities Membership, Harare, by 7 wickets
West Indies 181 all out in 43.5 overs (Jason Holder 45, Romario Shepherd 36; Brandon McMullen 3/32, Mark Watt 2/25)
Scotland 185/3 in 43.3 overs (Matthew Cross 74 not out, Brandon McMullen 67; Romario Shepherd 1/24, Jason Holder 1/29)