Harare (Agencies): Scotland ended two-time winners West Indies’ World Cup hopes and boosted their own chances of reaching this year’s finals with a seven-wicket win.
It is the first time Scotland have beaten West Indies in a one-day international, at the fourth attempt.
Brandon McMullen took three wickets as West Indies were all out for 181 and his 69 runs and Matthew Cross’ 74 not out saw Scotland win on 185-3.
Scotland must beat hosts Zimbabwe and the Netherlands to progress.
They face Zimbabwe on Tuesday, with their final game against the Dutch, also in Bulawayo, taking place on Thursday.
Meanwhile, West Indies are now unable to qualify for the World Cup – a competition they have never failed to appear at before.
Scotland skipper Richie Berrington won the toss and opted to bowl first. His decision was vindicated with McMullen picking up a wicket in each of his first three overs.
West Indian captain Shai Hope came in, looking to offer them exactly that – hope. He was joined at the crease by Nicholas Pooran – one of the top run-scorers at this tournament. But that partnership was only able to put on 30 before Hope edged behind.
They had already lost Brandon King – caught and bowled off McMullen – and Kyle Mayers by that point, who had his off-stump taken out the ground via a rip-snorter from Chris Sole.
Reduced to 81-6, Jason Holder (45) and Romario Shepherd (36) put on a solid counter-punch, but both fell in the space of three balls and the tail collapsed.
They were offered a sniff. Chris McBride went on the first ball of Scotland’s innings, clipping a leg-side delivery from Holder straight to Kevin Sinclair.
However, McMullen and Matthew Cross formed a fantastic partnership to give Scotland a fantastic base from which to build.
McMullen was the flashier – driving a brilliant six over the head of Alzarri Joseph – while Cross quietly chuntered on to his own top score of the tournament.
The former was eventually caught on the boundary rope by Joseph, but George Munsey – returning from illness – was able to add 18 before Cross put the finishing touches to the game, scoring the winning runs with a fantastic boundary.
The win helps soothe Scotland’s pain of five years ago, when they lost to West Indies by just five runs. After bowling them out for 198 in Hobart, the Scots scored 125-5 before weather stopped play and DLS decreed they were five runs short.
‘We let ourselves down’ – West Indies captain
Afterwards, McMullen told Sky Sports: “It was going my way, so we had to make use of it. I enjoyed all three [wickets], they were all pretty good.
“Matthew [Cross] was phenomenal today and took a lot of pressure of both of us. It was awesome to see him back in form.”
And, on his six, McMullen commented: “I was chuffed with that one. It’s part of my game, playing nice, straight shots so it was good that it came off today. I have no words, really.”
Reflecting on defeat, Hope told Sky Sports: “There’s not one thing to put my finger on. We’ve certainly let ourselves down here in the entire tournament. We need to look at the way we start our innings.
“Fielding is well and truly an attitude, in my opinion. We need to make more effort, especially with our attitude. Catches will drop, mis-fields will happen, it’s all part of the game. The effort needs to remain, regardless. I don’t think we gave 100% effort every time.
“It starts with foundation. The preparation needs to be better, from back home. We can’t come here and expect to be an elite team without the backing and preparation.
“We can’t expect to wake up one morning and be a great team. There’s a lot we need to focus on, we have to control what we can control.
“Scotland played really well, credit to them. I could see discipline, especially in the bowling attack. That’s something we can take from them.”
