Scotland The United States of America has given their Cricket World Cup qualification hopes a huge boost after a thrilling two-wicket win over Scotland in Aberdeen. Needing 22 off the final nine deliveries at Mannofield Park, Jaskaran Malhotra took charge, importantly keeping the strike for the final over to wrestle victory. Scurrying for a winning single off the penultimate ball, Malhotra’s partner Jessy Singh won a footrace against Safyaan Sharif, with the Scottish quicks underarm throw not in time to run Singh out.
The win moves the Americans above UAE in third place on the League 2 table and in an automatic qualification spot for next year’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier for India 2023. Monk Patel’s team crucially claimed points against UAE earlier in the Aberdeen tri-series, again sneaking home in the last over in a tense one-wicket win.
The side picked up five points on their trip (two wins and a no result), with the wash-out the only point on the trip for UAE. Calum MacLeod’s 133 not out from 144 balls in the defeat to the USA may have been in vain for the Scots, though the right-hander’s stellar run of form was the catalyst of three victories on the home leg, making them odds-on favorites to top the group.
