Scotland 196 for 6 (Coetzer 66,Reva 3-40) beat Papua New Guinea 192 for 8 (Bau 41, Watt 3-21) by four wickets
Scorecard
Papua New Guinea’s batting underwhelmed again as they conceded the ODI series 2-0 to Scotland with a six-wicket defeat in Dubai. Scotland’s spin trio of Mark Watt, Con de Lange and Michael Leask returned combined figures of 6 for 91 in 30 overs to break the back of PNG’s batting. Scotland took 46.2 overs to run down the 193-run target, and lost six wickets in the process. Kyle Coetzer‘s 66, and his partnerships of 61 for the second wicket with Calum MacLeod and 57 for the third with Richie Berrington proved crucial.
After being invited to bat, PNG endured a slow start, Tony Ura and Kiplin Doriga putting on 26 in 10.5 overs. Watt was first to strike when he pinged Doriga in front to send him back for 11. PNG then lost three more wickets by the time they had doubled their score, ambling to 52 for 4 in the 22nd over. Sese Bau and Mahuru Dai briefly resurrected them with a 66-run fifth-wicket stand and finished as PNG’s top two scorers, notching up 41 and 38 respectively.
Watt’s three wickets made him Scotland’s most successful bowler. He was also their most economical bowler, his 10 overs costing only 21. Leaks took 2 for 42 in 10 overs, while de Lange ended his quota with 1 for 28.
Scotland stumbled early in their chase, losing Matthew Cross for 3 in the second over. But they pulled themselves together with Coetzer taking control with his ninth ODI fifty. PNG’s bowlers did well to force Scotland to take the chase deep, and eventually the equation read 38 off 64 balls. By then Coetzer had gone. So too were MacLeod (19) and Berrington (39)
It was George Munsey’s a run-a-ball 17 that took Scotland closer to the target as he partnered de Lange in a vital 25-run stand for the sixth wicket. De Lange remained unbeaten on 18 while a couple of lusty blows from Safyaan Sharif ensured the tension dissipated rather quickly.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo