Scotland eliminated from the T20 World Cup after five-wicket defeat to Zimbabwe in Hobart; Zimbabwe and Ireland advance into the Super 12s; Scotland limited to 132-6 at Bellerive Oval before Zimbabwe topped that total with nine balls to spare
Friday 21 October 2022 14:12, UK
Scotland have been knocked out of the T20 World Cup with a five-wicket defeat to Zimbabwe seeing their opponents claim the final Super 12 spot.
Scotland's second straight defeat, following on from Wednesday's loss to Ireland, left them third in Group B, with Zimbabwe finishing top and moving through to the second round.
Richie Berrington's team were restricted to 132-6 by Zimbabwe, who proceeded to knock those runs off with nine balls to spare after recovering from 7-2 in the second over of the chase thanks to skipper Craig Ervine (58 off 54) and Sikandar Raza (40 off 23).
Raza departed with 27 runs required from 31 deliveries and Ervine then holed out at the end of the 17th over with 14 runs needed to give Scotland hope, but Milton Shumba (11no) and Ryan Burl (9no) then took Zimbabwe home, with Burl muscling Safyaan Sharif over mid-on for the match-winning boundary.
Scotland had thumped West Indies in their opening fixture but successive losses ended their hopes of making it to the second round for the second year in a row.
Zimbabwe can now look forward to fixtures against India, Pakistan, South Africa, Bangladesh and Netherlands after reaching the Super 12s for the first time in their history.
Ireland had secured their spot in the Super 12s with a nine-wicket demolition of two-time champions West Indies earlier in the day, a result that eliminated their opponents.
Zimbabwe's victory knocked Ireland down into second spot and Andrew Balbirnie's side will now enter England's Super 12 group, with the teams to meet at the MCG next Wednesday.
Ervine's team were excellent with the ball and in the field as they bounced back from Wednesday's defeat to West Indies, which followed a 31-run win over Ireland in their opener.
Scotland lost two wickets in the powerplay, including Matthew Cross (1) to a superb catch from Wesley Madhevere at midwicket off the bowling of Richard Ngarava (2-28).
Top-scorer George Munsey (54 off 51) - whose fifty was his ninth in T20 internationals - shared stands of 40 and 36 with Berrington (13) and Calum MacLeod (25) respectively but the runs did not come quickly or fluently.
Tendai Chatara (2-14) was the pick of the Zimbabwe attack, with fellow seamer Ngarava and off-spinner Raza (1-20) also impressing.
Regis Chakabva (4) and Madhevere (0) did not impress with the bat, though, banished inside two overs with Chakabva out lbw to Brad Wheal and Madhevere dragging Josh Davey onto his stumps.
Ervine steadied his team as he did the bulk of the run-scoring in a stand of 35 with Sean Williams (7), before the skipper and Raza added 64 from 43 balls for the fourth wicket.
Neither set batter could see out the innings but that did not matter, with Burl's boundary off Sharif sparking wild Zimbabwe celebrations.
Scotland skipper Berrington said after his side's defeat: "It's hugely disappointing not to get over the line. I thought we were about 25-30 runs short with the bat.
"A few more runs on that surface might have given us a chance to build some pressure. It was disappointing we didn't get momentum and execute with the bat.
"We can walk away really proud with some of the performances. Some of the cricket we have played has been excellent. We can certainly take a lot of positives moving forward."
