Scotland beat Namibia thanks to Brandon McMullen masterclass

Brandon McMullen took three wickets and then hit a superb century to lead Scotland to victory over Namibia in World Cup League Two.

The hosts set a decent target of 198 all out, as the Scots struggled to break the partnership of Louren Steenkamp – who top-scored with 67 – and captain JJ Smit (43).

The middle-order pair put on 87 before Smit was caught by Michael Leask off the bowling of McMullen.

After that, Namibia could only put on 22 runs for the fall of four wickets and were all out in 49 overs.

Scotland’s openers wobbled at the start of their reply, though, and were both out LBW to Ruben Trumpelmann – George Munsey dismissed for a two-ball duck, while Finlay McCreath only managed two from 15 deliveries.

However, McMullen, who posted figures of 3-47 with the ball, compiled a masterful century before retiring with cramp on exactly 100.

It takes the 26-year-old past the 2,000-run mark for Scotland and was his fifth ODI century for his country.

McMullen was assisted by captain Richie Berrington, who scored a notable 43, before Mark Watt and Matthew Cross combined to knock off the remaining 41 runs with 12 overs to spare.

It is a return to form for the Scots, who were beaten by Oman in the week in a game limited to 20 overs each because of weather conditions.

The previous two games were both washouts, the first without a ball being bowled and the second after Namibia had racked up a score of 189-9.

Defending champions Scotland remain second in the World Cup League Two table, having now played four more games than leaders USA.