Scotland fightback not enough as Nepal win low-scoring T20

Scotland fell short in their fightback against Nepal, as a single from the penultimate ball gave the tourists victory a low-scoring T20 Tri-Series match Glasgow.

After being put into bat in overcast and breezy conditions at Clydesdale, hosting its third match of the week, Scotland crumbled as Nepal wreaked havoc with the ball.

Mark Watt was removed with just the fifth delivery of the afternoon by Dipendra Singh Airee and by the end of the fifth over the Scots were five down.

After Michael Leask, who ended with 46, and captain Matthew Cross helped put up a brief resistance, Sandeep Lamichhane cleaned up the lower order by taking four wickets for just 11 runs to leave Nepal needing just 98 to win.

However, despite looking like they would reach the winning line with plenty to spare, disciplined bowling from Scotland took another dramatic match right to the end.

Safyaan Sharif had Kiran Thagunna caught in the final over as Nepal went eight down while needing just a single from the final two balls.

But they composed themselves to get it with the penultimate delivery as Lamichhane added to his bowling heroics by grabbing the winning run.

Scotland next face the Netherlands on Wednesday before finishing their series against Nepal on Friday as they warm up for next month’s T20 World Cup qualifiers.

“It was a game of two halves,” Scotland captain Cross told BBC Scotland.

“We didn’t bat very well to be honest. I think the first five or six overs being five wickets down is tough to come back from.

“Having said that, I think we put in a decent effort to make the game go as close to the wire as we could. So I’m proud of the performance in the second half.

“Losing five wickets in the powerplay, you don’t win many games like that. The pitch was trickier but we expect more of ourselves to build a score when it is like that.”