Raza's runs and Watts' wickets
Day two from the World Cup. SKY's balls. Pakistan's pants. Blessing. WI batting. The Sri Lankan mood.
The West Indies and Scotland game changed with rain. And if you are a Scottish fan, that probably gave you PTSD. That is because of what happened before the 2019 World Cup. Scotland had a chance of beating the West Indies and qualifying for the main event when rain and no DRS conspired to keep them out of the tournament.
And what happened today? They were smashing the ball everywhere, and then it rained, and when it stopped, so did their runs. Some of this was just that the powerplay was ending, and the rest was because West Indies were a flaming pile of mess at the start. But either way, again, Scotland is doing well against the West Indies, and again rains changes it.
You would think Scotland would be the one used to rain out of these two teams.
But thanks to George Munsey's unusual anchor innings - that seemed to really annoy him - they made it to 160. That was a good total.
Especially when Mark Watt continued his supremacy at Hobart. He is even adding tricks; now he reads on the field.
When I worked with him, he was firm on his own game and how that would work for him. But as he's gone on to play against more top level batters, I think he has had to adapt.
But he was already really good, here is my video on him from the last World Cup.
Watt is a non-spinning strong, western, spoiler left-arm finger spin yorker bowler who quite regularly bowls from 28 years, I mean, all three of his wickets were delivered from so far back he was either in Launceston or the South Pole. For those who don't know, this really affects your rhythm, as the entire flight part of the ball changes. But it's always hard to conquer, and Watt has certainly done that.
West Indies couldn't score off him, and lost two wickets. Leask bowled well also, but on the back of Watt. They were just all over the West Indies as a spin unit. Leask is more of a part-timer who gets a lot of turn, and Watt is a non-turning specialist, and it was their combination that strangled the game.
And that was that. But this was not an upset.
Scotland has reached the same stage as Ireland and Afghanistan, a win is no longer the biggest news in the world, just proof they are right on the fringes of the top teams. Scotland has been this good for a long time.
So last night I was on Edges and Sledges podcast, (the latest show on the 99.94 network) when I was asked about West Indies qualifying.
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