Scotland lose nailbiter as T20 World Cup campaign ends with mixed emotions

Matches between these two tend to be extremely tight affairs and it was a similar story here as Nepal chased down the 171 target set for them with just four balls to spare.

Dipendra Singh Airee was the match winner with an unbeaten 50 as Scotland failed to make the most of a half-century of their own by Michael Jones.

Michael Leask’s three wickets looked to have halted Nepal’s chase only for a late flurry of runs to see the so-called Cardiac Kids over the line to the delight of their large travelling support.

It sees Scotland leave India with just one victory from their four World Cup matches but, given how late they were invited to the party, it has been a valiant effort in trying circumstances.

Captain Richie Berrington said: “There’s certainly some frustration there as we’ve got ourselves into really strong positions in three of those games and had we won a few more key moments we could have won more of those games.

“Maybe that’s just the lack of game time coming into this tournament but there’s definitely a lot we can take forward as a team. Obviously we would have liked a few more wins to progress but we’re certainly pleased with some of our performances.”

Jones and George Munsey started well after Scotland had been put into bat, putting on 80 for the opening wicket. Munsey wasn’t quite at his booming best but the left-hander still contributed a very useful 27 before he departed after failing to get enough on a Rohit Paudel delivery and was caught.

It was a different story at the other end as Jones raced to his half-century from just 31 deliveries. Brandon McMullen joined him in the middle as Scotland continued to play with aggression, passing the 100 mark after 12 overs.

None of their team-mates could make much of a contribution with the bat, however, as Scotland lost six wickets for just 38 runs to finish on 170, with Jones top scoring with an excellent 71.

That looked within Nepal’s reach who survived an early let-off when Brad Currie couldn’t hang on to a difficult catch off his own bowling and again when Brad Wheal clipped leg stump only for the bails to somehow stay on.

Leask came on for the ninth over and made an immediate impact by removing Kushal Bhurtel with his first delivery to finally break Nepal’s opening partnership before Matthew Cross put down a second difficult opportunity behind the stumps.

Back came Leask to get rid of Aasif Sheikh and then captain Paudel to leave Nepal on 98 for 3 and put Scotland back in the box seat.

Leask’s final over, though, was expensive, going for 20, to add additional drama to an already tense affair and Nepal gradually chased down their target to seal a memorable victory in the final over.