Scotland’s winning record in CWC League 2 was continued with a dominant win at Aberdeen against the UAE, with a century stand between Calum MacLeod and Matthew Cross ensuring a third Scotland triumph in their final domestic trilateral sequence. Mark Watt grabbed 5 for 33 as the visitors fell 86 runs short in the competition’s 100th ODI. With nine matches remaining, Scotland has closed the gap with Oman at the top of the standings to just four points.
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Both openers fell easily after being sent in to bat, with Craig Wallace’s second effort to scoop Kashif Daud surrendering a top edge to the keeper and Kyle Coetzer blasted by Junaid Siddique the following over. Scotland passed fifty in the 13th over, thanks to MacLeod and Micahel Jones, but Jones dropped a reverse delivery to Ahmed Raza, and the UAE looked in command at 54/3.
They were made to pay for wasted opportunities, though, as Macleod reached his half-century in the 28th over, flicking Zahoor Khan to deep fine leg for one before Vritya Aravind, who had previously missed a stumping, lost a gritty bottom edge off Zahoor. After adding 113 for the fourth wicket, MacLeod was caught off Basil Hameed for 77. Despite losing wickets around him, Cross persisted, finding assistance in number eight Mark Watt to carry Scotland to 252/7 before getting struck for 85 by Rohan Mustafa in the penultimate over.
A goal of 255 appeared to be easily achievable, but while everyone of the Emirati top order batted, none advanced past 25 save Aravind, whose battling fifty from number four kept the Emirates in the game even as Watt denied him of partners. With his team still in the hunt at 145/6, the youthful keeper-bat brought up his half-century by running Sharif down to deep third in the 35th, but he became Watt’s fourth target in the next, caught by MacLeod for precisely fifty. Watt finished his five-wicket haul with a return catch to remove skipper Ahmed Raza as the UAE were comprehensively beaten for 168 with nine overs left.
With Oman having already completed all of their matches, Scotland appears to be on track to surpass them and earn the League 2 championship, albeit with the scrapping of the CWC Super League, the possibility of promotion has vanished. They are almost certain to finish in the top three and therefore advance to the World Cup Qualifier. The setback undermines the UAE’s position against third-placed competitors Namibia and Nepal, including the United States, whom they will meet again tomorrow.
