Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell lead New Zealand to 7-wicket win over Scotland

Edinburgh [Scotland], August 1 (ANI): Exceptional knocks from Mark Chapman and Daryl Mitchell helped New Zealand clinch a seven-wicket win against Scotland in the only ODI played on Sunday here at Edinburgh.
New Zealand’s batting order performed well against Scotland as they chased 307 runs comfortably. Jacob Duffy and Michael Bracewell took three wickets each for New Zealand while Lockie Ferguson scalped two.
Meanwhile, Scotland’s Matthew Cross and Michael Leask half centuries went in vain. It was a poor bowling performance from Scotland as the visitors were able to chase the score with 25 balls to spare.
Scotland won the toss and chose to bowl first in the first and the only ODI match between the two. The hosts openers Kyle Coetzer and Michael Jones gave the hosts a slow and steady start to the game. The first wicket came by the hands of Duffy as Coetzer was caught out for 22.
Scotland was off to a decent start with 46 for 1 in 8 overs. Calum MacLeod came one down for the host but his wicket came through soon and the wicket of Jones came through shortly after as well putting Scotland in a tricky situation at 3/73.
The hosts needed a stable partnership as the score stood at 73 for 3 in 14 overs.
Captain Richie Berrington and Matthew Cross were on the field to provide the team with a partnership but the captain could not do much either as he fell for Bracewell’s delivery and got caught out for 12.
Scotland’s situation was grave and Chris Greaves added to it after getting dismissed at the hands of Bracewell at 6 runs in 13 balls. Half of the batting lineup of Scotland fell in front of might New Zealand’s bowling prowess at the score of 107.
All-rounder Michael Leask came on as a saviour for the hosts as Cross and him were able to put on a good partnership of 92 runs for Scotland which stabilised their innings.
Leask scored his half-century in only 35 balls and the match took a positive turn for Scotland. However, Cross was caught out at 53 runs off 58 balls at the hands of Daryl Mitchell. Though he seemed to do his job as the team almost hit 200 run mark on the scoreboard.
Leask was still on the pitch and was doing excellent. Mark Watt (31) and Safyaan Sharif (28) did well with the bat too enabling Scotland to reach the score of 300 runs. Both of them were dismissed by Ferguson.
Scotland were ought to be happy with how the middle and lower order performed in the game as the team was able to put on a total of 306 runs as the rest of the team collapsed.
The performance of the New Zealand bowling lineup was not the best as they couldn’t stop the hosts from reaching the 300-run mark. Duffy (3/52) and Bracewell (3/43) gave standout performances taking 3 wickets each while Ferguson with 2. Blair Tickner and Daryl Mitchell got a wicket each as well.
The New Zealand side started strong into the match with Martin Guptill and Finn Allen. Both the batters performed well with Allen scoring a half-century. His wicket came through after completing fifty runs after Hamza Tahir dismissed him.
Martin Guptill also came close to scoring a half-century but fell for Leask’s ball and was dismissed at the score of 47 runs in 53 balls. Dane Cleaver was also bowled out at 32 runs in 37 balls by Leask.
The score was 132 for 3 for New Zealand in 23 overs. Mark Chapman and Daryl Mitchell were on the pitch for New Zealand and they put on an unbeaten stand of 175 runs which helped their side secure a win.
Chapman completed his second century of the format with the first one coming in his debut match. He was not out at the score of 101 runs off 75 balls with Mitchell also scoring not out at 74 runs in 62 balls.
The duo made it look easy to chase the score of 307 by winning the game with 25 balls remaining. Chapman was also awarded man of the match for his match-winning performance.
Scotland’s bowling failed to impress the whole match which made the 307 runs total an easy chase for New Zealand. Leask was the only one who delivered a decent performance as he scalped two important wickets for the team.
Brief scores: New Zealand 307 for 3 (Chapman 101*, Mitchell 74*, Leask 2-46) beat Scotland 306 (Leask 85, Cross 53, Bracewell 3-43, Duffy 3-52) by 7 wickets. (ANI)