Calum MacLeod excited by Cricket Scotland potential after Afghanistan win

Calum MacLeod hit a stunning 157 as Scotland stunned Afganistan at the weekend. File picture: Getty Images

MacLeod led the way with an unbeaten 157 as the Saltires upset a much-fancied Afghanistan side in a seven-wicket win in Bulawayo.

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Former Durham man MacLeod was the stand-out performer, with what captain Kyle Coetzer described as “from what I’ve seen, probably the best innings by a Scotland player”.

He put on a 208-run partnership for the third wicket with Richie Berrington (67) after the early losses of Matt Cross and Coetzer, but he believes the comprehensive win shows the strength in depth of the current Scotland set-up.

He told the Cricket Scotland Twitter account: “Crossy and Coetzer have been striking the ball as well as I think I have ever seen, so to lose two of our top players is always a bit of a setback to start.

“The exciting thing about this team is we have match-winners all the way down to seven, eight and nine - guys who have a record of scoring runs.

“Luckily enough it was Richie and I who were able to get in and capitalise on a good wicket.”

Scotland continue their qualifying campaign on Tuesday knowing a win could all but guarantee a place in the Super Sixes, but Coetzer is staying grounded.

He said: “We take it one game at a time. Our next game is against Hong Kong and we need to be prepped and prepared and ready to go.

“We need to make sure everybody is fighting fit because it was quite a hot day and a few guys spent quite a long time out there.”

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