Italy fight till they crash and burn. Oman bounced out. South Africa win big.
Day 3 of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup
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Scotland vs Italy
George Munsey’s big knock (SAK)
George Munsey took the bulk of the strike in the first six overs. He scored 41 runs off 26 balls, of which 68.2% were on the offside. Although he just scored two fours on the legside, they were really crisp shots - a pull shot in front of square & a flick off a slower ball outside off.
In the first over by Ali Hasan, there were a couple of edges that flew away for fours in the third man region. But in the fourth over of the innings, he really took a liking to Thomas Draca, whacking three fours in a row. When Munsey and Grant Stewart met twice before, he only made 15 off 19 in the powerplay against him and was out once. Today, that was 14 off 7 balls. (It could be pitches too, but that is quite the jump.)
He continued to strike at over 150 in the next five overs as well, when he mostly went up against spin. After the first middle overs period was over, he was still in the mid-150s for the rest of his innings. So he almost kept going at a similar pace across the different phases.
Brandon McMullen’s flourish (SAK)
Before today, Brandon McMullen had a strike rate of 145.1 at an average of 30.6 for Scotland. On our true values, we have that as +16.1 on the former and +7.6 on the latter when compared to par. Three Scottish batters have 500 or more runs since his debut. George Munsey is better on both metrics, while Richard Berrington has a superior true average. But he is still one of the most important batters of his team.
Today, his entry point was in the 14th over after a strong platform had been set. His record for Scotland against spin is much stronger than versus pace, but it was the first time he would face JJ Smuts in T20Is. He scored 11 off six balls, including a six over deep midwicket. The other spinner he came across was leggie Crishan Kalugamage, against whom he had previously scored 15 off 4 balls. In this match, he would add another 16 runs off the next five balls, with a six down the ground and another lofted drive on the offside.
He also bettered his returns against Grant Stewart from his last meeting - 11 off 5 today compared to 9 off 8 back in July 2023. He hit another six over long-on, finishing with four hits clearing the rope, a single dot ball, and zero fours.
McMullen has four clear scoring zones; he is incredible down the ground and doesn’t really score too many behind the wicket on either side.
The bulk of his runs today came in the midwicket zone, including a bunch of twos.
