Sharjah: Scotland downed the UAE in their first match of the ICC World Cup qualifiers Super Sixes match through a spirited batting display at the Queens Sports Club ground in Bulawayo in Zimbabwe to win by 73 runs.

Scotland posted a whopping 322 for six through Matthew Cross’s knock of 114. UAE skipper Rohan Mustafa’s fine spell of four wickets for 56 and Mohammad Usman’s fighting knock of 80 from 91 balls with seven boundaries and two sixes and his 105 runs partnership for the seventh wickets with Ahmad Raza, who cracked 50 off 86 balls, went in vain. UAE were restricted to 249 in 47.4 overs.

Scotland won the toss and elected to bat. Their openers Matthew Cross and skipper Kyle Coetzer provided a good start by putting on 68 runs in 13.5 overs.

Coetzer, who was nearing his half century, got caught and bowled by Imran Haider for 43. One-drop Calum MacLeod scored quickly and along with Cross put on 161 runs for the second wicket. MacLeod hit 78 off 79 balls with eight boundaries and one six before pacer Zahoor Khan clean bowled him.

Cross and Richie Berrington steered Scotland past the 250 run mark before Mustafa bowled Cross for 114. His knock off 135 balls contained five boundaries and four sixers. George Munsey further accelerated the run flow by scoring 30 runs off 14 balls while Berrington remained unbeaten on 37.

Chasing the total, UAE got off to a good start. Mustafa and Ashfaq Ahmad put on 62 runs in 7.6 overs Mustafa hit four boundaries and two sixes during his 22 ball knock for 32 runs before falling to Chris Sole. One run later Ahmad too followed after scoring a run-a-ball 30 runs becoming Sole’s second victim. Mustafa returned with figures of 4 for 56 from his ten overs.

UAE lost Chirag Suri for a duck and Adnan Mufti was trapped leg before by Mark Watt for 11. When Shaiman Anwar too got bowled by Safyaan Sharif for 13, UAE slipped to 93 for five. Mohammad Boota and Mohammad Usman took the score to 116 when Boota became Sole’s third victim for 5.

Pushing UAE to 117 for six in the first 20 overs, Scotland took a firm grip on the match. Mohammad Umsan along with Ahmad Raza fought back through a 105 runs partnership. Sole ended Usman’s brilliant knock in the 44th over.

Brief scores:

Scotland bt UAE by 73 runs. Scotland 322 for 6 in 50 overs (Matthew Cross 114, Kyle Coetzer 43, Calum MacLeod 78, Richie Berrington 37n.o, George Munsey 30, Rohan Mustafa 4 for 56) UAE 249 in 47.4 overs (Rohan Mustafa 32, Ashfaq Ahmad 30, Mohammad Usman 80, Ahmad Raza 50, Chris Sole 4 for 68).