In the second match of the day in Kolkata, Scotland won the toss and elected to bowl first on a good surface at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. West indies came out to open the batting with Brandon King and captain and keeper batter Shai Hope. West Indies went through the powerplay phase wicketless but did not get off to a racing start as Scotland kept a tight leash on the West Indies batters.
West Indies were 33/0 in 6 overs and slightly upped the ante in the middle phase as King took more risks while Hope was happy to be the accumulator from one end. The duo put on 54 runs for the first wicket and looked good as to be fair both the openers got starts but eventually gave it away. They should have carried on and it was Michael Leask getting the first wicket.
Michael Leask removes Shai Hope to give Scotland the first breakthrough
West Indies were 54/0 in 8.1 overs when Leask removed the West Indies captain with a beauty. Leask bowled the variation ball released along with the seam pushed through with a flat trajectory. The ball pitched outside the leg stump and then deviated away. Hope wanted to tuck it leg side but ended up copping it on the pad and the ball then deflected away to the clatter the stumps. Hope fell for 19 off 22 balls with 2 fours to his name.
West Indies were 54/1 in the 9th over when Shimron Hetmyer came out to the crease and he miscued a ball that landed over the bowler running back as Hetmyer survived a scare in the same over and played out the over as well. Soon, Scotland removed the other opener through a different bowler.
Oliver Davidson removed Brandon King as Scotland went bang bang in two overs
Oliver Davidson started to bowl the 10th over as Hetmyer took a single off the first ball of the over. Davidson then removed King in the second ball of the over. It was not a wicket-taking ball by any means but he would take it anyways. Davidson bowled a length ball which had width on offer outside the off-stump asking to be hit.
Brandon King saw it and went hard at it and found George Munsey at backward point. The fielder Munsey hopped to pluck it out of thin air and could not hold on in the first attempt. But fortunately for him, the ball again came down in his palms and the second grab was easier as he took it on the rebound. King fell for 35 off 30 balls with 4 fours and one six to his name as he got a start but couldn’t carry on with the innings that he needed to as West Indies were in a spot of bother at this stage.
Shimron Hetmyer was next joined by Rovman Powell and soon things started to turn for the better for the West Indies in the second half of the innings. Scotland needs to be careful and not let the game drift as even one phase that goes awry could turn out to be costly for the Scotland side.
What Lies Ahead
Scotland begun well and kept control of the proceedings for the first 10 overs. But Hetmyer and Powell are shifting the momentum now in favour of West Indies. Hetmyer is looking dangerous and Powell is getting himself in. West Indies bat deep and a big score could well still be on the cards. The pitch looks good to bat on at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Let’s see how things shape up from this position.
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