TEENAGER Mark Watt yesterday came of age as an international bowler after helping Scotland become unofficial T20 champions of Associate cricket.
The 19 year-old Heriot’s spinner claimed 5-27 – only the second Scot to take five wickets in a T20 international - in a thrilling 37-run win over Holland in Dubai.
Defending a modest 140, Scotland were up against it as the Dutch raced to 58-2, Watt having conceded fifteen runs in his first over.
He was immediately whipped out of the attack by skipper Preston Mommsen but he returned to be the match-winner as Holland collapsed to 103 all out.
Watt first took a return catch to dismiss the dangerous Wes Barresi before bowling Michael Rippon with his next delivery.
The youngster went on to outfox three more Dutch batsmen in quick succession in a three-over spell that saw him claim five wickets for just twelve runs.
Fellow spinner Michael Leask claimed the big scalp of Ben Cooper who had threatened to take the game away from the Scots with a rapid 32.
Earlier the Scottish batsmen were forced to dig deep to post a challenging total on a slow wicket.
Kyle Coetzer provided the platform with two boundaries and a maximum in his 30 before Matt Machan and Richie Berrington added 65 in a crucial fourth wicket stand.
Big-hitting Berrington faced only 22 deliveries for his 42 while Sussex star Machan guided the innings home before being run out for 43 off the last ball.
Yesterday’s win allows Scotland to claim the bragging rights as the leading T20 Associate side ahead of next month’s World Cup in India.
The sides had been due to meet in the final of last summer’s Qualifier but the match was washed out.
Watt’s figures are the second best by a Scot in T20 internationals after team-mate Ali Evans’ 5-24 – also against the Netherlands.
The youngster said: “I’m ecstatic about the win today and finishing the tour on a high.
“For me personally it was great to take career-best figures which I’m hoping will give me a boost if I can get myself into the squad to India.
“The batters did a great job to give as a defendable total with Matt and Richie especially playing superbly.
“I thought we then bowled really well in the power-play – especially Ali Evans.”
SCORECARD
| Toss won by | Scotland |
| Umpires | CK Nandan (IND) - Sarika Prasad (SING) - Shiju Sam (UAE) |
| Home Side | (neutral) |
| Player of Match | MRJ Watt |
| Comment | Match referee: DT Jukes (England) |
| Batsman | Fieldsman | Bowler | Runs | Min | Bls | 4s | 6s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KJ Coetzer | c MAA Jamil | b MJG Rippon | 30 | 0 | 26 | 2 | 1 |
| CS MacLeod | b VJ Kingma | 4 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | |
| MH Cross+ | b MR Swart | 4 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 0 | |
| MW Machan | run out SA Zulfiqar | 43 | 0 | 41 | 1 | 1 | |
| RD Berrington | c MR Swart | b MAA Jamil | 42 | 0 | 22 | 6 | 0 |
| PL Mommsen* | not out | 11 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 0 | |
| RML Taylor | dnb | - | |||||
| SM Sharif | dnb | - | |||||
| AC Evans | dnb | - | |||||
| MA Leask | dnb | - | |||||
| MRJ Watt | dnb | - | |||||
| extras | (b0 lb3 w3 nb0) | 6 | |||||
| TOTAL | 5 wickets for | 140 |
| FOW |
|---|
| 1-20(CS MacLeod) 2-35(KJ Coetzer) 3-53(MH Cross) 4-117(RD Berrington) |
| 5-140(MW Machan) |
| Bowler | O | M | R | W | wd | nb |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MR Swart | 2 | 0 | 14 | 1 | - | - |
| VJ Kingma | 4 | 0 | 32 | 1 | - | - |
| MAA Jamil | 4 | 0 | 40 | 1 | 1 | - |
| PA van Meekeren | 4 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 2 | - |
| MJG Rippon | 4 | 1 | 20 | 1 | - | - |
| PW Borren | 2 | 0 | 15 | 0 | - | - |
| Batsman | Fieldsman | Bowler | Runs | Min | Bls | 4s | 6s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SJ Myburgh | c MW Machan | b AC Evans | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| MR Swart | lbw | b RD Berrington | 26 | 0 | 20 | 1 | 2 |
| BN Cooper | b MA Leask | 32 | 0 | 33 | 4 | 1 | |
| W Barresi+ | c&b; MRJ Watt | 13 | 0 | 12 | 1 | 0 | |
| PW Borren* | lbw | b RML Taylor | 4 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| MP O'Dowd | st MH Cross | b MRJ Watt | 9 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 0 |
| MJG Rippon | b MRJ Watt | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| SA Zulfiqar | not out | 9 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | |
| PA van Meekeren | lbw | b MRJ Watt | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| MAA Jamil | c KJ Coetzer | b MRJ Watt | 4 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| VJ Kingma | lbw | b SM Sharif | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| extras | (b0 lb0 w5 nb0) | 5 | |||||
| TOTAL | 10 wickets for | 103 |
| FOW |
|---|
| 1-0(SJ Myburgh) 2-55(BN Cooper) 3-58(MR Swart) 4-63(PW Borren) 5-82(W Barresi) |
| 6-82(MJG Rippon) 7-90(MP O'Dowd) 8-91(PA van Meekeren) 9-98(MAA Jamil) |
| 10-103(VJ Kingma) |
| Bowler | O | M | R | W | wd | nb |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AC Evans | 3 | 1 | 9 | 1 | - | - |
| MA Leask | 2 | 0 | 15 | 1 | - | - |
| SM Sharif | 3.2 | 0 | 23 | 1 | - | - |
| MRJ Watt | 4 | 0 | 27 | 5 | 4 | - |
| RML Taylor | 4 | 0 | 22 | 1 | - | - |
| RD Berrington | 2 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | - |