Scotland have booked their place in the World T20 in India after beating Oman by 23 runs in their last Group B game in Edinburgh. With all matches having being played in Group B, Netherlands, Afghanistan and Oman, who are second, third and fourth respectively will play in the playoffs next week. Netherlands finished second, falling just short of the top spot in spite of beating Kenya by four wickets - they needed to score the target of 98 within eight overs but reached it in the ninth. Opening batsman
Kyle Coetzer's 38-ball 63 and pacer
Safyaan Sharif's 3 for 27 helped wrap up the win for Scotland. The win helped them finish at the top of the Group B table with four wins in six matches, while Afghanistan also finished on eight points with three wins in six games and two abandoned matches.
Coetzer, who had initially been omitted from Scotland's squad for the Qualifier, gave the team a brisk start, 60 in 6.1 overs with Calum MacLeod, before the latter was dismissed by seamer Mohammad Nadeem for 20. Scotland appeared to build on the aggressive start with a promising 35-run stand between Coetzer and Matthew Cross but left-arm spinner Zeeshan Maqsood brought Oman back by dismissing Cross and George Munsey in a space of 10 deliveries to leave Scotland on 101 for 3. By then, Coetzer had brought up his fifty and made his way to 63 - taking his tally for the tournament to 173, the highest for Scotland - before Maqsood had him edge one to the keeper off the final ball of the 14th over. Richie Berrington (26) and Preston Mommsen (32*) helped Scotland add 54 runs off the last six overs to finish on 173 for 5.
Oman's start was not ideal as Sharif claimed openers Zeeshan Maqsood and Zeeshan Ahmed within the first four overs of the innings. Jatinder Singh and Aamir Kaleem added 44 for the third wicket, but Alasdair Evans' strikes off successive deliveries in the 11th over - to account for Jatinder and Mehran Khan - left Oman reeling at 68 for 4. Kaleem's 40-run partnership for the fifth wicket with Amir Ali looked to revive the chase but after that stand was broken in the 15th over, Oman found it difficult to keep up with the required rate. Shareef was eventually dismissed for 59 off 47 deliveries in the 18th over and with 39 required off 12 deliveries, the match slipped away from Oman.