Scotland land first win of T20 World Cup as sights turn to England

Defeats to the Italians – as well as Jersey – in last summer’s European qualifier had looked to have put paid to Scotland’s chances of participating in this tournament, only for Bangladesh’s late withdrawal to offer them a second chance.

After an opening day defeat to the West Indies, Owen Dawkins’ side got their revenge on Italy, both for that defeat last July but also for the rugby team’s Six Nations loss in Rome on Saturday.

Michael Leask was the player of the match after swatting 22 runs from the final five balls as Scotland posted a score of more than 200 – 207 to be exact – for the first time at a World Cup, thanks largely to George Munsey’s power hitting at the top of the order on his way to making 84.

Leask and Munsey were also influential in the reply, the all-rounder taking four wickets and Munsey claiming the same number of catches to reduce Italy to 134 for 9, with Italy captain Wayne Madsen unable to bat after picking up an injury in the field.

Italy briefly threatened a mid-innings rally when the Manenti brothers put on a 73-run partnership but when Harry departed for 37 and Ben for 52 not long after, Italy’s race was run.

Next up for Scotland is a “Kolkata Cup” clash with a difference against England on Saturday, with Leask believing a place in the next phase isn’t beyond the Scots.

“It was a full team performance today,” he said. “My approach to my batting was the same as it had been against the West Indies. If the ball is in my arc it’s got to go (to the boundary) That’s my job. I wear my heart on my sleeve and I play that same way on the field. We’ve still got two matches to go to get through to the Super Eight stage and we’ve given ourselves a wonderful chance with that win today.”

‘It was really important that we got over 200’

Scotland captain Richie Berrington – who also took a pair of catches – expressed his contentment at a good day’s work.

He said: “It was obviously really important for us to bounce back strongly today with a strong performance. We’re really pleased to get our first win of the tournament. In the end it was a pretty comprehensive win but we knew we were going to have to work hard for it. It was really important that we got over 200 in that first innings on what was a very good wicket.

“George is such an important player for us at the top of the order. He always sets the tempo and he’s certainly a hard batter to get out when he gets going. We’ve seen him doing that many times. It’s great to see him in form at the moment and that partnership up top was so important for us.

“We knew that Italy have a lot of good players in their line-up so getting those early wickets in the powerplay was key. That put us on the front foot. I was pleased with the way our bowlers stuck to their plans and we picked up some quick wickets towards the end.

“It’s great that we’ve had two outings here now at Eden Gardens to get a feel for the conditions, two different wickets as well. We’ll enjoy this win and then we’ve got a few days to start preparing for that big game against England.

“The guys have really embraced coming into this tournament (so late). We’ve had really good prep since we’ve been here and the confidence is really high within the group. There’s a lot of positive energy. A win today will help with that.”