Dubai: New Zealand grabbed their second win of the ICC World T20 sealing a 16 run victory over Scotland in Super 12, Group 2 in Dubai on Wednesday.
The Kiwis rode on Martin Guptil’s stunning 56 ball 93 to reach 171/5. The burly opener anchored the innings after his side lost their top order early on cheaply but fell short of a deserving century. Scottish did manage to put brakes early on thanks to Shafyan Sharif(2/28) and Mark Watt(1/13) however, in the second half of the innings, they were unable to withstand the onslaught by the opposing batters. Glenn Phillips(33) played the second fiddle pairing up well in Guptill stitching a mammoth 105 run stand to post a formidable total on the board.
In reply, the Scottish surprised the Blackcaps when they attacked the bowlers in powerplay overs getting 48. However, their innings went out of the track in the middle overs losing crucial wickets which meant they fell behind the required run-rate. Michael Leask did manage to turn up the heat towards the end hammering a blistering 20 ball 42 although it wasn’t enough for his side. Trent Boult(2/29) and Tim Southee(1/24) topped the Kiwi bowling charts helping their side earn crucial point in group that is still quite open so far.
Brief Scores: New Zealand 172/5 in 20 overs(Martin Guptill 93, Glenn Phillips 33; Shafyan Sharif 2/28, Mark Watt 1/13) beat Scotland 156/5 in 20 overs (Michael Leask 42*, Mathew Cross 27 ;Tim Southee 1/24, Trent Boult 2/29) by 16 runs
