Scotland aim to complete perfect Oman trip after win over Papua New Guinea

Scotland's Michael Leask was player of the match in the win over Papua New Guinea

Captain Kyle Coetzer and Michael Leask led the way as Scotland continued their fruitful trip to Oman with another Cricket World Cup League 2 triumph against Papua New Guinea.

The Scots had got their four-game series in Oman off to the best possible start with victories over PNG last Saturday and the hosts on Tuesday, and they claimed another two points in their latest outing on Wednesday, winning by four wickets with seven balls remaining.

PNG chose to bat first and made 226 for eight, aided by Norman Vanua's knock of 57 and Chad Soper's 39 not out.

Leask and Ally Evans were the key men for the Scots in ensuring they had an achievable target to aim for, taking three wickets apiece.

After Matthew Cross was bowled for a duck, Coetzer and Callum MacLeod - making his 200th appearance for the national team - got the Scots' chase up and running with 81 and 28 respectively.

Leask was the man who eventually took the Scots over the line with a six in the 49th over, bringing his tally to 51 not out off 34 balls.

Scotland will be bidding to complete a perfect visit to Oman by defeating the hosts and Group 2 leaders again in the final fixture of their four-game series this Saturday.

Shane Burger's team are up to second in the seven-team section, with seven wins from their 11 matches so far, and will be confident they can book their place at the World Cup qualifying tournament in Zimbabwe in summer 2023 ahead of the showpiece itself in India later that year.

“A good team always finds a way to win even when they don’t particularly play well,” Burger said. “I thought we were a little bit off the mark today in certain areas. Our discipline could potentially have cost us that game, but what brought us home was character, fight and heart which is what this team keeps showing more and more every game.

“Credit to PNG for the way they played, I thought they were superb and put us under pressure on many occasions, but unfortunately for them they came up a bit short. It was an amazing all-round display from Michael Leask, a coming-of-age knock, and we’re incredibly proud of him, assisted by Kyle Coetzer who really anchored the innings. We’re incredibly happy and now have a couple of days off before the Oman game on Saturday.”

Coetzer was full of praise for his team mate Leask, who was also named player of the match.

“We all know the powers that Michael Leask has and he just controlled his innings today," he said. “We know he has the power to clear the ropes, but his decision making today was key to his performance with the bat. And he was outstanding with the ball and in the field as well. It was certainly his day and hopefully there will be many more of those to come.

“If we had known that we’d be offered three wins out of three at the start of the tour we’d have taken it. Personally it’s always nice to get a few runs, although I put the guys under a little bit of pressure getting out when I did, but it’s good to see the depth that we have.”

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