On Monday (16th September), Scotland clinched a big T20I victory against the Netherlands after managing their record T20I total.
It was the first game for Scotland in the T20I tri-series in Ireland while the Netherlands were playing their second game in this tournament after their no result against Ireland in the opening game of this series due to the rain washout.
After winning the toss, the Dutch captain Pieter Seelaar decided to field first. Scotland managed their record T20I total of 252/3 (20 overs), thanks to their 200 runs opening partnership between the centurion George Munsey and captain Kyle Coetzer. That total was also the sixth-highest total in T20I history. Scotland’s previous highest T20I total was 221/3 against the Netherlands at Amstelveen on 20th June 2018.
Meanwhile, Munsey became the second Scottish batsman to hit a T20I century. Richie Berrington was the first player for Scotland to achieve this feat as he scored 100 runs against Bangladesh at The Hague on 24th July 2012. Munsey completed his century in 41 balls and remained not out on 127 runs off 56 balls (5 fours and 14 sixes). It also became the second-highest individual score by a left-handed batsman in T20I history. The record is 162* by the Afghanistan left-handed batsman Hazratullah Zazai against Ireland at Dehradun on 23rd February 2019.
In the meantime, captain Coetzer scored 89 runs off 50 balls with 11 fours and 5 sixes.
Munsey-Coetzer’s 200 runs opening partnership was the third-highest partnership in T20I history. The top two were also the opening partnerships as those were 236 runs between the Afghanistan batsmen Hazratullah Zazai and Usman Ghani (against Ireland at Dehradun on 23rd February 2019) and 223 runs between the Aussie openers Aaron Finch and D’Arcy Short (against Zimbabwe at Harare on 3rd July 2018).
The Netherlands scored 194/7, Scotland secured their second-largest T20I victory
Chasing down that target, the Netherlands managed to score 194/7 (20 overs). However, still, they lost that game by 58 runs. Captain Seelaar scored 96 not out off 49 balls (9 fours and 5 sixes) but he didn’t get enough support. It was the seventh time in T20I history when both the captains scored 50+ runs in the same game. Scott Edwards was the second-highest run-scorer in that innings as he scored 37 runs off 19 balls. Apart from them, no other reached the 20-run mark in that innings.
Scotland finally won this match by 58 runs – their second-largest T20I victory (by runs). Their record margin T20I victory was also against the Netherlands by 115 runs at Amstelveen on 20th June 2018.
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