HOBART, Australia — Scotland beat two-time champion West Indies by 42 runs Monday to produce the second big upset in two days at the Twenty20 Cricket World Cup after Namibia’s win over Sri Lanka, AP reported.
George Munsey scored an unbeaten 66 from 53 deliveries to lift Scotland to 160 for five after being sent in to bat in overcast conditions at Hobart.
“It’s a special win for us,” Scotland captain Richie Berrington said. “There’s a lot of hard work that’s gone into this. I’m just extremely proud.”
Disciplined bowling from Scotland resulted in regular wickets and restricted West Indies to 118 in 18.3 overs in reply in the Group B opener.
Left-arm spinner Mark Watt (3-12) opened the bowling and took three wickets, and pace bowler Brad Wheal (2-32) and offspinner Michael Leask (2-15) each took two wickets.
Ireland was playing Zimbabwe later Monday.
The teams placing first and second in each of the preliminary-round groups will advance to the Super 12 round, which starts this weekend with defending champion Australia against New Zealand on Saturday in a rematch of last year’s final.
Scotland qualified for the Super 12 stage last year when the tournament was held in the United Arab Emirates and Oman, including an upset over Bangladesh.
The win over West Indies will rank higher for the Scots, who got away to a flying start with Munsey and Michael Jones (20) putting on a 55-run opening stand, disrupted by a rain delay, before Jason Holder took the first wicket two balls after the powerplay.
Calum MacLeod belted 23 from 14 balls and Chris Greaves finished unbeaten on 16 in other important contributions for the Scotland innings.
Holder (2-14) was the pick of the West Indies bowlers with two wickets in his first two overs, and he also prolonged the run chase in a losing cause with a defiant 38 from 33 balls despite bating with the lower order.
Kyle Mayers scored the first 20 runs for West Indies before he was dismissed in the third over. Evin Lewis (14) and Brandon King (17) took the score to 53-2 in the sixth but their dismissals in back-to-back overs rocked the innings.
“It’s a tough loss for us. Obviously disappointed,” West Indies skipper Nicholas Pooran said. “This loss … makes the next two games must-win for us.
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