Cricket: Scots out to shock Kiwis

Published on Thursday 4 June 2009 09:35

SCOTLAND will go into their World Twenty20 opener with New Zealand without a warm-up win under their belts having lost their final match against the Netherlands at the Oval.

But skipper Gavin Hamilton remains optimistic the Saltires can pull off a shock win against the Kiwis – provided they get their house in order.

Kyle Coetzer showed spark to hit 39 from 28 balls but Scotland's lower order faltered as they slumped from 102 for three off 14 overs to 128 for nine at the end of the innings.

Paceman Dirk Nannes' miserly four-over spell went for just 13 runs and included 16 dot balls, while fellow opener Edgar Schiferli and Pieter Seelaar picked up three wickets each.

Calum MacLeod's dismissal of Darron Reekers in the first over gave the Scots hope but a calm 62 from Alexei Kervezee eased the Netherlands home by seven wickets.

Scotland – who have previously lost to the West Indies and Bangladesh – were given a stark reality check after pushing England close on Tuesday and Hamilton put paid to an error-strewn warm up campaign.

"We made the same mistakes as we did against England – we are trying to work on them because we obviously want to put get it out of our game as quickly as possible," said Hamilton.

"It was similar against England in the way that we got a platform but never built on it. We didn't quite form the partnerships we would have liked at the top and there were far too many dot balls at times.

"But to be honest we won't be changing too much – I have said on a number of occasions that I am happy with the direction we are heading.

"We just have to maintain our standards and think of ways to make ourselves competitive during the opener against New Zealand." Hamilton was given a lifeline when he was clean bowled off a no-ball during Schiferli's first over but took little advantage of it as the Dutchman removed the skipper in his second.

Fraser Watts and Coetzer rallied, pushing the score to 55 after eight overs but a failure to stick at the crease proved their downfall.

Watts was removed by Mudassar Bukhari for 20 before Colin Smith smashed Schiferli for six only to hole out to Kervezee at long-on a ball later. Durham's Coetzer steadied the ship, moving the score to 102 in the 15th over with a flurry of boundaries but once he was stumped off the bowling of Seelaar Scotland never recovered.

Warwickshire batsmen Navdeep Poonia, Neil McCallum, Craig Wright, Gordon Drummond and MacLeod all fell for less than double figures – a complete contrast to the Netherlands' structured reply.

Defending their 128, Scotland started strongly with MacLeod enticing Reekers into a rash shot.

However, the next wicket wasn't to fall until the 16th over.

Kervezee's measured approach saw him smash six fours and one six on the way to a 59-ball 62 while Bas Zuiderent offered support with 46.

Tensions were raised when Zuiderent was dismissed by Wright in the last over with four runs still needed for victory but Daan van Bunge dispelled them with a four through mid-off.