 "CWC Qualifier Day 10 Report: Sterling Stirling stuns UAE, SL pin Scotland")
It was spin at play at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo as Sri Lanka bowled out Scotland for 163 to win by 82 runs and get through to the super six with four wins in four games. Maheesh Theekshana and Wanindu Hasaranga took two and three wickets respectively with the former being named player of the match.
In another game at the Bulawayo Athletic Club, Ireland rode on Paul Stirling’s brilliant century to finish their group stage campaign with a flourishing 139-run victory against the UAE.
Spin on the show by Scotland
After winning the toss and electing to field first, Scotland struck through pacer Chris Sole. He removed the last game’s centurion Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Mendis. Sadeera Samarawickrama and Pathum Nissanka added 55 for the third wicket before Alasdair Evans broke the partnership and got rid of the former.
Nissanka got together with Chrith Asalnka next. But their partnership did not last long as Mark Watt got Nissanka out for 75. Asalanka added 61 with Dhananjaya de Silva to take the Lankan lions past 200. Wckets fell at regular intervals after de Silva was removed with the score at 203. Sri Lanka were eventually all-out for 245 in the 50th over.
Chris Greaves, with his leg spin, accounted for four of the last five Lankan wickets to fall. Watt, the left-arm orthodox spinner got three, making it a seven-wicket haul for the Scot turners.
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Lankan spinners pay back the debt
If Scottish spinners were great on that Bulawayo wicket, Sri Lanka, which thrives on spin, produced a scintillating performance with the ball too. They did not let any Scotland batter settle down and bowled the entire team out for only 163 in 29 overs.
Only Greaves, who shone with the ball, showed some resistance with the bat too. He scored 56 not out. For Sri Lanka, Theekshana finished with figures of 3/41 in his 10 overs and thanks to his unbeaten 16 with the bat, was chosen as the player of the match. Hasaranga, who picked three five-wicket hauls in three previous games, got two wickets in this one.
Sterling Stirling stuns UAE
Paul Stirling did brilliantly well with the bat in the last game of group B at the CWC Qualifier 2023. The Irish opener registered his second-best ODI score in his career, powering himself to 162 in just 134 balls to take his team to 349/4 in 50 overs. Irish skipper Andrew Balbirnie and Harry Tector also scored fifties.
UAE were no match to the Irish bowling as they were bowled out for a meagre 211 in 39 overs to go down for the fourth time in a row in CWC Qualifier. This was their eighth consecutive loss in ODIs. As a result, the Wets Asian side equalled its second-longest losing streak of eight games. Their longest winless run in the format is 10 games which came in 2015/16. Skipper Muhammad Waseem top-scored with 45 for UAE while Curtis Campher, George Dockrell, Joshua Little and Andy McBrine picked two wickets each for Ireland.
After this game, the super six teams and matches have been finalised. Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe will enter with four points, Scotland and the Netherlands will have two points while West Indies and Oman would have 0 points to their kitty ast the start of the super six. Each team will play three games against the teams from the other group. At the end of the nine matches, top two teams at the points table will qualify for the ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2023 to be played in India.