New Zealand beat Scotland in seven-over game

New Zealand beat Scotland in a rain-curtailed seven-over game at the Oval, with one over to spare after it looked during the interval that the Scots were away to the second upset of the tournament. > The Kiwis won the toss after Daniel Vettori had pulled out due to injury, and decided to field first, as would have been expected from a game this short in nature. However, if they had expected the Scottish batsmen to come out and capitulate meekly, they were sadly mistaken. The very first over by Iain O’Brien was smashed for 16 runs including three boundaries by Ryan Watson, where as James Franklin went for 12. Ian Butler, who won the man-of-the-match award for his excellent controlled spell of bowling pulled it back with the wicket of Watson, but number three Kyle Coetzer smashed both Jacob Oram and Jesse Ryder around to get to a 15-ball 33, while Navdeep Poonia used up the same number of deliveries to score 15.

The Scots scored 89/4 in their seven overs, but not a single run came off in the last three balls of the inning, something that could have been a factor in the final analysis.

The Kiwi reply was on expected lines, as they came out hard at the Scottish bowlers. Jesse Ryder was particularly severe on Gordon Drummond and Craig Wright, but three quick wickets set the game up as 22 runs were needed off 15 balls. Watson’s excellent fifth over brought the target down to 22 in the last couple of overs and it could have been anyone’s game. However, Jan Stander began with a no-ball that went for a six and it was all downhill after that. Ross Taylor smashed a couple of sixes, while Scott Styris finished it off with another smashing hit.

Ian Butler was named the man-of-the-match for his excellent couple of spells that got him 3/19 in two overs.