Spin bowlers lead way in Scots’ revenge win over Oman

Safyaan Sharif took three wickets during Scotland's victory over Oman. Picture: SNS.

The Scots, beaten in their opening World Cup League 2 fixture last week, chose only one genuine pace bowler and five spinners for the re-match.

And the team selection proved spot-on as left-armer Hamza Tahir claimed a five-wicket haul in only his second ODI. Fellow slow bowlers Mark Watt and Tom Sole also had a scalp apiece, while the pace of Safyaan Sharif accounted for the other three as Scotland sealed an 85-run win.

Defending 223 on a tricky pitch, Sharif made the breakthrough when he trapped Khawar Ali for 5.

Scotland were frustrated by a 52-run stand between Jatinder Singh and Aqib Ilyas until the spinners took charge, Tahir finding the edge of the former’s  bat and Calum MacLeod taking the catch at slip.

A similar dismissal saw MacLeod pouch his second catch as Watt struck to remove Oman skipper Zeeshan Maqsood for a duck.

Sole got in on the act before Tahir had Oman’s top scorer Ilyas caught by Michael Leask for 45.

Sharif returned to take two more in as many balls before Tahir completed his haul and Scotland’s win when Sole caught Sandeep Goud for 32.

Earlier, Scotland battled to recover from the loss of talismanic skipper Kyle Coetzer, who departed for a first-ball duck 24 hours after falling just four short of a century in the victory over Papua New Guinea.

When MacLeod and George Munsey were also out cheaply, the Scots were wobbling at 38-3. A stand of 89 between Matthew Cross and Richie Berrington staved off further trouble, before Craig Wallace provided a late flourish. With good support from Sharif, he helped the Scots add 80 runs from the final ten overs to post 223-7.

Scotland will try to repeat Saturday’s win over PNG when they face the Pacific Islanders again tomorrow.