AUS vs SCO: Australia break Scotland hearts, allows England to qualify for Super 8

Australia secured a thrilling win over Scotland in St Lucia to break Scottish hearts and allow England to qualify for the Super 8 stages on June 16, Sunday.

Australia won the match by 5 wickets after a stunning partnership from Travis Head and Marcus Stoinis took the game away from Scotland. The duo put on 80 runs as Head scored 68 and Stoinis hitting 59.

England’s win against Namibia early in the day meant that they needed the Aussies to beat Scotland, as they would progress on a better net run-rate. However, the Scotland side didn’t make things easy for the Aussies and seemed to be the best side at many points during the game.

Scotland were put into bat by Australia and there was instant success for Mitchell Marsh and Co. Ashton Agar, playing his first game of the tournament, dismissed Michael Jones in the very first over. Just as it seemed like the Aussies would control things, McMullen and George Munsey launched a counterattack that rattled the 2021 champions. McMullen, in particular, was very aggressive in his approach and used the win blowing across the Daren Sammy stadium to his advantage.

McMullen scored his 50 off just 26 balls and he got great support from George Munsey, who scored 35 off 23 balls. McMullen scored 60 off 34 balls with 6 sixes in it as Scotland raised to 92 runs in just 9 overs. However, the wickets of Munsey and McMullen in quick succession would derail the momentum a bit for the Scottish side. However, they started to keep a high run-rate as slowly wickets also started to tumble. Captain Berrington played a fine knock of 42 from 31 balls as Scotland ended up posting 180 runs in their 20 overs. This was their highest total in T20 World Cups.

The run chase got off to the worst possible start for the Aussies as David Warner was dismissed early on by Brad Wheal. While Travis Head played a couple of good shots, Scotland bowlers were right on the money and it forced the wicket of Mitchell Marsh to fall as well.

Head was given a lifeline by Jones, who dropped a tough catch. The opener was looking for support from the other end, and Glenn Maxwell was unable to deliver that as Mark Watt delivered a beauty to dismiss him.

Scotland looked to be right on top as the squeeze was applied by the bowlers, forcing Australia’s run-rate to go up and be close to 12. However, much like the Oman game, Stoinis changed gears in the 14 over as he hit 2 sixes and a boundary off Michael Leask.

Stoinis got 2 boundaries in the following over as the required equation came down to 60 off 30 balls. Head, after reaching his fifty, hit 2 consecutive sixes off Sharif, before getting another one as Australia took hold of the momentum in the game. Or so we thought. Sharif would get his revenge and Head departed with the required run-rate falling below 10.

Stoinis ended the over scoring his fifty with a boundary as the Sharif over yielded 24 runs. The all-rounder brought up the 150 with another boundary and followed it with a reverse sweep, a hallmark of his innings. But it would prove to be one too many as Watt cleaned him up to put the game on a knife edge.

Tim David got 3 boundaries in the 18th over, which more or less ended the contest as Australia needed 13 off the last 2. Scotland pushed it into the final over, but Sole dropped another big catch as Australia finally got over the line as David hit a six.

Scotland remain impressive despite exit
After England had secured the win against Namibia, it seemed like that it was done for the Scots. No one gave them a chance against the rampaging Aussies, but they provided a punch to them that had the 2021 champions rattled.

McMullen showed his class with the bat as he took on the Australia spinners. The Scottish bowlers showed great discipline as well and made the run chase ever so harder for the Aussies. They aren’t a finished product yet as there were a few issues in all the three departments, especially the catching.

However, they have shown they can hang with the big boys and will be a team to watch out for in the coming years. They have a home series with Australia coming up soon after the World Cup and will be looking forward to providing a tough challenge to the Aussies.