SCO vs NZ: Mark Chapman blazes ton as New Zealand ace 307 chase
SCO vs NZ: Mark Chapman may have missed a century in the second T20I, but he made up for it in the lone ODI against Scotland in Edinburgh, when he smashed a brilliant 74-ball century to lead New Zealand to a seven-wicket victory. Daryl Mitchell, an all-rounder, was Chapman’s partner and scored an unbeaten 74 off just 62 deliveries as their 175-run partnership enabled the visitors chase down 307 and cap the trip in style.
Finn Allen hit the boundary five times in the first five overs, giving New Zealand a strong start in the run chase. As the visitors added 53 runs in the first ten overs, Martin Guptill eventually got going with a boundary over cover. Allen showed no signs of slowing down as he also hit three boundaries off Chris Greaves in his first over and eventually reached fifty off 46 deliveries. However, when Scotland continued to strike at regular intervals to reduce New Zealand to 132/3, their chances of winning unexpectedly improved. Before Michael Leask struck in consecutive overs to put the visitors in trouble, Allen mistimed Hamza Tahir to wide far on.
Then, as New Zealand started to recover, Mitchell signalled his intentions by hitting his first pitch for a boundary. Greaves came back after a few calm overs. And gave up 12 runs once more as the run rate gradually decreased to six. Chapman, who had been somewhat reserved up until that point, hammered Tahir for two sixes in one over, forcing Scotland to switch up their bowling at both ends. The two players once scored three fours and a six in the span of eight deliveries. As the momentum swung decisively in the batting side’s favour.
The two batsmen gained confidence after reaching their half-centuries in the same over. And the boundaries began to come in, lowering the needed run rate to under six. Chapman was dropped on 66. That didn’t assist Scotland’s cause because he hit three sixes in the next over to end the chase. Finally, with more than four overs to spare, the pair completed the task. With Chapman scoring three figures in his return ODI.
Leask’s daring 85 earlier in the day helped Scotland stage a great comeback with the bat. And allowing them to score more than 300 runs. Scotland quickly reached 45 in eight overs, but they struggled in the middle overs due to frequent wickets. By the 25th over, half the team had returned to the pavilion. But Scotland refused to settle for a score of par. Even though Matthew Cross contributed with a fun half-century. It looked like Scotland wouldn’t be able to surpass 250 when he left the field in the 37th over.
Leask continued to bat for Scotland despite having already hit 50 at that point. Jacob Duffy taken on by him for back-to-back sixes, raising expectations of a century. But the bowler got his comeback in the next over. After Leask left, the hosts scored only 43 runs from their final seven overs. That prevented them from reaching a total in the 320-330 range, which would have been difficult.
Brief scores:
Scotland 306 in 49.4 overs (Michael Leask 85, Matthew Cross 53; ;Michael Bracewell 3/43) lost to New Zealand 307/3 in 45.5 overs (Mark Chapman 101*, Daryl Mitchell 74*) by 7 wickets.
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