Scotland triumph over Papua New Guinea and make their Super 12 spot claim further strong. They have won the match by 17 runs in a Group B clash at Muscat, Oman.
In response to a target of 166, Papua New Guinea suffered an early setback of great magnitude losing five wickets in the powerplay for 35 runs.
Sese Bau (24), Norman Vanua (47), and Kiplin Doriga (18) gave them a glimmer of hope and the Scottish a minor scare in the middle overs. But once they got dismissed, PNG did not have enough resources left to fight it out.
Josh Davey was the man with the golden arm for Scotland, picking up 4 wickets for 18 runs in 3.3 overs.
Earlier today, having won the toss, Scotland elected to bat first. But once again just like their first game against Bangladesh, both their openers fell cheaply. Scotland ended up posting 37/2 at the end of the powerplay.
The partnership between Matthew Cross and Richie Berrington then steadied the ship. After reaching their half-century stand, both of them immediately shifted gears.
Simon Atai broke this 92-run partnership in the fifteenth over, removing Cross after he scored 45 off 36 deliveries.
Things started to look ominous for PNG as Berrington and MacLeod scored 26 from 16th and 17th overs. But Pokana pegged the scoring back immediately with a brilliant 18th over giving away only four runs. Then, it all fell apart in the last two overs as Scotland lost 6 wickets and managed to score only 15 runs.
Berrington, the player of the match, was the prime scorer for Scotland with his 70 off 49. For PNG, Kabua Morea was the pick of the bowlers with his spell of 4/31 in four overs, including the 20th one of the innings where he claimed 3 wickets.
