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All three part of a 14-man squad for the first Test against Pakistan in Perth with Boland and Morris with Lyon replacing Murphy as the only change from the last Ashes Test

Alex Malcolm02-Dec-20231:44

Malcom: Lance Morris will bring the x-factor

David Warner is on track to get the Test farewell he desires while Mitchell Marsh and Cameron Green have both been named in Australia’s 14-man Test squad alongside Western Australia speedster Lance Morris for the first Test against Pakistan.Australia’s selectors pulled no surprises naming 10 of the 11 that played in the last Ashes Test back in July, with Nathan Lyon replacing Todd Murphy after recovering from his calf injury. Green has been selected as the extra batter/allrounder and two extra fast bowlers in Morris and Scott Boland have also been named in the squad for the first Test against Pakistan at Perth Stadium starting on December 14.As was expected, Alex Carey has retained his place as the first-choice Test wicketkeeper despite losing his ODI place to Josh Inglis at the start of the World Cup. But the selectors still see him as the clear-cut Test wicketkeeper and he tuned up for the series with a classy 81 for South Australia in their tight loss to Victoria last week.Related

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Morris is the only player who was not part of the Ashes squad having been rested over the winter after concerns over his back and his workload coming back from the tour of India. His addition to the squad was long expected though as Cricket Australia’s medical team has carefully managed his domestic summer so far in conjunction with the WA selectors.He has played just two Marsh Cup matches and three of the six Sheffield Shield games, with no back-to-back fixtures. He was rested from WA’s last Shield game against Queensland and instead played club cricket for Scarborough in Perth where his overs were carefully managed across two weekends. He is being groomed as Mitchell Starc’s understudy as the strike weapon in Australia’s Test attack. Morris’ careful management was designed to have him fit for the start of the Test summer as the fitness of Starc was set to be an unknown coming out of the long World Cup campaign. Starc suffered lingering groin soreness after the Ashes series, where he was named Australia’s player of the series, but he managed to play 10 of Australia’s 11 World Cup matches.Warner had long forecast the series against Pakistan, and specifically the third Test in Sydney as his desired farewell from Test cricket. His Test form over the last two years, even with a lone double century against South Africa last year, has raised questions as to whether he deserved to go out on his own terms. But Australia’s selectors believe he is one of the best two openers in the country and has been named for the first Test, having made a half-century in his last Test innings at the Oval and come off a stunning World Cup in India.Marcus Harris, Matt Renshaw and Cameron Bancroft are the three main candidates to replace Warner either before Sydney or for the two-Test series against West Indies in mid-January. The selectors opted not to promote any of them ahead of time. All three will instead play for the Prime Minister’s XI against Pakistan in Canberra starting on Wednesday.Chairman of selectors George Bailey suggested there was scope for any players performing in that game to be added to the Test squad at any stage.”As ever, there will be opportunities in the short to medium term to break into this squad and we look forward to seeing the continued strong performances from players who have been performing domestically, many of whom will get a tremendous opportunity in the PM’s XI fixture against Pakistan later this week,” Bailey said.Green is the only player in the 14-man Test squad who will also play for the PM’s XI. He is coming off 96 for WA against Queensland in his first red-ball innings since he was dropped for the final Test of the Ashes series. Australia’s coach Andrew McDonald suggested last week that there was a way Green and incumbent allrounder Marsh could play in the same side later in the summer if they were to shuffle the batting order post-Warner’s exit but it seems likely that Green will have to bide his time.Australia’s first Test squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Lance Morris, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner

Lancashire were already relegated but showed fight with the ball on final day of season

ECB Reporters Network29-Sep-2024Worcestershire sealed their highest position in the Vitality County Championship since it was split into two divisions in 2000 after drawing with relegated Lancashire at Visit Worcestershire New Road.They secured sixth spot in Division One after recovering for the second time in the game from a precarious position with the bat thanks to the efforts of Matthew Waite, Adam Hose and Logan Van Beek.It enabled them to surpass their previous best performance of finishing seventh in Division One in 2011.Worcestershire have defied the pre-season predictions of being favourites to make an instant return to Division Two after last summer’s promotion campaign.A run of three successive wins against Durham, Kent and Essex effectively made sure of top-flight cricket in 2025.It was a fitting way for long-serving all-rounder Joe Leach to end his career after being Worcestershire’s leader of the attack for the past decade and a haul of 467 first-class wickets for the County.He received a standing ovation when he came out to bat for the second time in the game and signed off with 30 not outWorcestershire can be proud of their efforts after the well-documented challenges on and off the field that have confronted them during the past 12 months.They have shown a tremendous team spirit and an abundance in skill but also their determination in adversity when recovering from challenging positions in games.Worcestershire triumphed away to Durham after being bowled out for 112 in the first innings and then recovered from 10 for 4 on the first morning to defeat Essex at Chelmsford.Relegated Lancashire’s fate had been sealed on Saturday after their failure to secure a single batting bonus point for the ninth time in 14 games this season.But there was the encouraging sign of a return to form of pace bowler Tom Bailey.He had picked up just 16 wickets in his first 10 Championship appearances of the summer but was back to his best against Somerset and Worcestershire with a haul of 11 scalps.West Indian paceman Anderson Phillip also impressed during his short spell at the club and ended this game with nine wickets.Phillip struck with his first ball of the day as Jake Libby played too early at the delivery and offered a gentle return catch.Phillip struck again when Kashif Ali, Worcestershire’s leading run-scorer in the Championship this summer, went for a flashing drive and edged through to keeper Matty Hurst.Gareth Roderick completed 2,000 first class runs for Worcestershire when he reached nine but added only five more before he was run out.Rob Jones turned Phillip towards cover and he and Roderick set off for a single but the keeper-batter was unable to make his ground before Will Williams direct hit at the non-striker’s end.Jones (17) was lbw after aiming to drive Tom Bailey and Club Captain Brett D’Oliveira lost his middle stump to the same player.Ethan Brookes was lbw to a delivery angled in by Williams at 78 for 6.But for the second time in the game Waite led a counter-attack, this time in partnership with Adam Hose.He pulled Phillip for six and a similar shot off the same bowler brought another boundary.Hose provided excellent support, mixing solid defence with a series of fine strokes, on driving George Balderson and straight driving Williams to the ropes.Waite raced onto 37 from 27 balls before he aimed another pull at Phillips but this time picked out Harry Singh at deep square leg.The seventh wicket pair added 55 in just nine overs.Hose’s determined knock of 41 off 109 balls came to an end when he was lbw to give Bailey his third wicket.Van Beek advanced to 44 before he holed out to deep mid-wicket off Phillip but then Leach had time to end with a flourish in making 30 not out before bad light halted play at 3,30pm with 41 overs remaining.

He’s taken a step closer to realising his dream, a year after Rohit predicted he would be an all-format player for India “pretty soon”

Himanshu Agrawal06-Jul-2023In May 2022, Rohit Sharma had forecasted that Mumbai Indians’ Tilak Varma would be an India player very soon. “Having such a calm head is never easy, and in my opinion, I feel he’s going to be an all-format player for India pretty soon,” Rohit had said. “He’s got the technique, and he’s got the temperament, which is the most important thing when you play at the highest level.”Just over a year later, Varma has moved a step closer to the India cap. The 20-year-old was named as part of India’s young-looking squad for the upcoming five T20Is against West Indies, something he wasn’t yet dreaming about.”I was not thinking about the national side,” Varma, who is representing South Zone in the ongoing Duleep Trophy in Bengaluru, said after the second day’s play against North Zone. “My mom and dad were crying on video call yesterday; they were very emotional. My childhood friend called me [saying] you have got selected. That was the time – around 8 o’clock [pm] – that I knew I was selected.”Related

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Other than his captain Rohit, Mumbai’s set-up also includes former India batter Sachin Tendulkar, who even dined at Varma’s place during the IPL. And Varma, on his part, didn’t let go of the opportunity to get some advice out of the two experienced players.”I have heard a lot from Rohit and Sachin sir, and also from Virat [Kohli] . They always tell that when you are in good form, your subconscious mind is in the right place,” Varma said. “They also tell me to play close to the body… they always tell that [preparing] off the field is very important.”Varma smashed 343 runs in this year’s IPL, where he struck at 164. Only two Indian batters, Suryakumar Yadav and Ajinkya Rahane, had a better strike rate for those to have hit at least 300 runs this season, even as Varma’s debut IPL season in 2022 fetched him 397 runs. He already dreams about delivering in a World Cup, even if he wasn’t thinking about an India call-up just yet.”I visualise every night how I can bat: if in a World Cup match, we are four or five down for 40 or 50, from there on, how can I take the team forward? It helps in making it easy for me,” Varma said.With the next T20 World Cup less than a year away, Varma’s technique and temperament, as highlighted by Rohit, might as well see him doing that there and then. Only time will tell if he can translate his success in IPL to international cricket.

Batter’s stock continues to rise after fifth Test hundred and first on home soil

Vithushan Ehantharajah24-Jul-2024″I want to be my own batter. I want to be Harry Brook, not anybody else.”Harry Brook is not the first athlete to trot out variations of this line in response to comparisons of the greats of yesteryear. Brook himself has used it in the past when others have sought similarities in his traits to some of the finest batters of the modern era.If such comparisons are a burden, it is one he finds easy to shed. And part of that is down to the fact that the player he is and the player he might become has never seemed closer. On Wednesday, he ascended to No.3 in the ICC Test rankings, fresh from his fifth century in just his 14th match – and first at home. A jewel in England’s Test batting line-up is already sparkling.That’s not to say the events of Nottingham were a coming of age. His work so far, across all formats, has been more about productivity than potential. His absence was felt in India, even if his presence would not have necessarily changed the 4-1 series result. Even the 14 innings between centuries number four and five were littered with half-centuries; a chase-saving 75 against Australia at Headingley and an 85 in the first innings of that final Ashes Test at the Kia Oval. England would not have come back from 2-0 down without them.But his second innings at Trent Bridge, particularly on the third evening under lights against a threatening West Indies pace attack, as he took the sting out of the session and somehow still finished unbeaten on 71 from 78 deliveries, felt quintessentially Brook. Calm yet destructive. At ease while eliciting discomfort.If the ball was not defended under the eyes, it was stroked through cover with sighing ease. Bouncers were swayed and pulled with enough regularity for West Indies skipper Kraigg Brathwaite to use the short-ball tactic so intermittently that it was both a first and last resort. Brook did not seem to go through the gears, yet by the time his innings had come to an end on 109, England were comfortably out in front.Brook produced a crucial half-century to help turn the Ashes series•AFP/Getty Images

And yet, Brook’s strive for individuality has been aided by some sparrow-ing of his favourite players. Including the bloke at the other end in a fourth-wicket stand of 189.”Nowadays you have to take different parts of other batters and put it into your game,” Brook said. “There’s so many good players out there.”An example is Rooty [Joe Root] playing the ball so late, or AB de Villiers hitting all around the ground, Kevin Pietersen for his power. So yeah, you do see little bits of other people’s games and try to fit it into yours. I’ve done a little bit of that… but not too much.”The mention of Pietersen – tee-ed up to Brook but embraced all the same – provides too convenient an avenue not to take. Both love to dominate, feet still, head to the pitch, hands so brutally into the ball it’s as if they’re trying to punch through it and cuff the bowler.They also – as method rather than fate would have it – do seem to have a shared knack of getting themselves out when their opponents seem incapable of doing so.Of the disparaging labels put on Pietersen during a hall-of-fame career, the occasional dismissal attributed to alphadom meant “selfish” stuck firmest. The easier you make the batting seem, the bigger the sin it is to waste.Related

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More than a decade on, attitudes have changed, particularly in the England dressing-room. Even during a period of self-imposed refinement, Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum are still encouraging their shotmakers and ceding to their judgement, particularly if they sense an opportunity to shift momentum out in the middle, as Pietersen often did.Brook’s first two dismissals in the series reflected this. At Lord’s, on 50, he decided to show Alzarri Joseph he would not relent against the short ball by taking it on again, only to cloth a top edge to Joshua Da Silva. It bore some similarities to his dismissal at the ground the year before, though, being an Ashes, that drew much harsher criticism.On day one at Nottingham, he walked off with a breezy 36, having toed a paddle scoop to short leg off Kevin Sinclair. Two innings played, two good starts burned.”I identified a gap behind square on the leg side and I wanted to manipulate the field to open other parts of the ground to score,” Brook said of that first Trent Bridge dismissal. “Maybe I didn’t need to play that shot but if I’d nailed it, they might have had to change the field and it would have opened up another gap.”It’s remarkable clarity from a 25-year-old, though nothing out of the ordinary for such a straight-shooter. That thrill-seeking proactiveness was still evident in his century. Once more, Joseph went after him. Only this time Brook, serene on 46, stepped to the leg side and attempted to carve the quick over cover. He came within a matter of inches of having his stumps rearranged and leaving England in a hole.Could a more risk-averse Brook be more productive going forward? That does not feel like the right question.Because, ultimately, that wouldn’t be the Harry Brook we have, or the Harry Brook he wants to be. And while he continues to make strides to better himself, notably with his fitness, fuelled by a desire to turn ones into twos and twos into threes, and contribute more in the field, the progression of his batting is likely to forever be governed by the lavish brazenness we have already witnessed.What was particularly instructive was his reaction to being informed his career average of 62.54 is now second only to Sir Don Bradman. How did Brook feel to be within faint sight of not just true greatness, but near-batting perfection?Well, a little nonplussed.”That could definitely fluctuate either way,” he remarked, before adding, “Hopefully I can keep if that high. But if not, so be it.”

Vidarbha knocked out despite racing to 221 for 6 in six fest at KSCA Cricket Ground in Alur

Himanshu Agrawal11-Dec-2024″Beware of us,” was the message Mumbai seemed to convey as they marched into the semi-final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Six days after hunting down a record 230 against Andhra, Mumbai mowed down a target of 222 against Vidarbha, with six wickets and four deliveries in the bank.Ajinkya Rahane showed the way by bashing 84 off 45 balls, and adding 83 in just seven overs with Prithvi Shaw. Dipesh Parwani had Shaw caught at long-off to check Mumbai’s flow, and the wicket slowed them down for just a little while. Shaw had cracked 49 from 26 deliveries, including five fours and four sixes.Yash Thakur eventually dismissed Rahane to start the 16th over, by which time he had carved ten fours and three sixes himself but Mumbai still needed another 65 to win. Seeing the hefty requirement, Suryansh Shedge went 4, 6, 6, 6 off Mandar Mahale to pick up 24 runs off the 17th over. Shivam Dube then started the 18th by clubbing two more sixes, off Parwani, to all but kill the contest.That Vidarbha had 221 on the board was down to half-centuries from Atharva Taide and Apoorv Wankhade, who added 81 for the third wicket. Vidarbha were 100 for 2 after ten overs – by then, Taide had reached his fifty – before both batters smashed 46 off the next four overs. Atharva Ankolekar then trapped Taide in front for 66, and Shedge bowled Wankhede for 51, but Shubham Dubey (43 off 19 balls), Mahale (13 off 5) and Jitesh Sharma (11 off six) blasted 54 off the final three overs.By the time the game was done, a total of 39 fours and 22 sixes had been smacked in Alur.

Three wickets in reply keep contest in balance after first-day wash-out

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay16-Sep-2025Gloucestershire 65 for 3 (Bracey 18*, Price 16*) trail Northamptonshire 206 (Zaib 76, McManus 44, van Buuren 3-23, M Taylor 3-48) by 141 runsMatt Taylor and Graeme van Buuren produced standout performances with the ball as Gloucestershire made up for lost time on day two of their match Rothesay County Championship Second Division match against Northamptonshire at the Seat Unique Stadium, Bristol.Following a first-day washout, left arm seamer Taylor returned figures of 3 for 48 to take out the top-order, while slow left armer van Buuren claimed 3 for 23 to rip through the tail as Northants were dismissed for 206 in 63.5 overs in their first innings after losing the toss.Only Saif Zaib mustered meaningful resistance, the in-form left-hander top-scoring with 76 to take his first-class run tally for the season to 1,268 at an average of 63.4. Stubborn opener Lewis McManus contributed an obdurate 44, but too many Northants batters surrendered their wickets cheaply on a day when bowlers held sway.Gloucestershire fared no better in the final session, reduced to 40 for 3 by some incisive new-ball bowling from Northamptonshire’s seamers. Ollie Price and James Bracey then held firm to reach the close unbeaten on 16 and 18 respectively, bad light curtailing play with 11.4 overs unused. The fourth wicket pair will resume on 65 for 3 in the morning, still 141 runs behind.Stand-in Gloucestershire captain Bracey won the toss, elected to bowl and looked on from behind the stumps as Northants openers Luke Procter and McManus negotiated the first hour without any major scares on a green-tinged pitch. Only when Matt Taylor switched to the Bristol Pavilion end did Gloucestershire enjoy success, the left arm seamer hitting the top of Procter’s off stump with a ball that nipped back. Having chiseled 21 from 40 deliveries with three boundaries, Northamptonshire’s skipper departed with the score on 34. Taylor struck again three balls later, new batsman Calvin Harrison playing on as the visitors slipped to 39 for 2 in the 14th.That soon became 54 for 3, Josh Shaw locating James Sales’ outside edge and Ben Charlesworth taking a tumbling catch at first slip as the home side registered a first bonus point. Mindful of the need to shore things up, McManus continued to eschew risk as he moved to within seven runs of a half century, but Zaib adopted a more forthright approach, twice driving Ajeet Singh Dale for four and punching Zaman Akhter to the deep mid-wicket boundary as the fourth wicket partnership advanced to 46 by the time lunch was taken with the score on 100 for 3.The stand was worth 65 when Taylor made the breakthrough Gloucestershire so badly needed, McManus playing down the wrong line to a ball that hit off stump and terminated his patient innings on 44. He had faced 92 balls and accrued 3 fours and Northants were back under pressure at 119 for 4. Broad never looked comfortable against Singh Dale’s pace and was caught at the wicket for 12 with the score 147 for 5 as Gloucestershire’s seamers made further in-roads.Unfazed by events at the other end, Zaib continued to play positively, raising 50 from 78 balls with 9 fours and prompting Gloucestershire skipper Bracey to introduce spin in the form of van Buuren from the Ashley Down Road end. Zaib issued a statement of intent, hoisting the slow left armer over deep mid-wicket for six as he progressed towards three figures.Bidding to become only the fifth Northants player and the first since Rob Bailey in 1990 to score seven first class hundreds in a season, the 27-year-old left-hander fell short on this occasion, pushing defensively at a delivery from Akhter and edging a catch behind. His score of 76 from 112 balls included 10 fours and a six and served to keep his team afloat. Rob Keogh and Aadi Sharma mustered resistance thereafter, the seventh wicket pair making it through to tea with the score 194 for 6.Sharma fell soon after the restart, hitting van Buuren’s first delivery high to mid-on where Matt Taylor took a comfortable catch to reduce Northants to 199 for 7. Gloucestershire’s experienced all-rounder struck a further blow with his next delivery, pinning Ben Sanderson lbw without scoring as the visitors displayed signs of lower-order fragility. Ben Whitehouse survived the hat-trick ball, but the home side sensed an opportunity to dismiss their opponents cheaply.When Keogh was bowled for 13 in the act of playing across the line, van Buuren had claimed three wickets in a remarkable nine-ball burst and Northants were in freefall. Singh Dale wrapped up the innings in quick time, bowling Sanderson for six in the next over, at which point the visitors had lost their last five wickets for just 28 runs in 10 overs.If Gloucestershire’s intention was to see off the new-ball threat posed by Sanderson, it proved easier said than done, the veteran seamer summoning a superb in-swinger to bowl Charlesworth for 14 in an impressive spell of 1 for 10 in six overs with three maidens. Broad then accounted for Joe Phillips, who nicked off to Harrison at second slip, while Procter bowled Miles Hammond as the home side lurched to 40-3 inside 19 overs.Bracey and Price batted diligently thereafter, staging an unbroken fourth wicket stand of 25 to keep the visitors at bay.

A last-minute injury cost him a crack at last year’s T20 World Cup. Now he’s fit and making a case to be in England’s first-choice attack

Matt Roller03-Oct-2023Warm-up games carry an unwelcome sense of jeopardy for Reece Topley. On the eve of last year’s T20 World Cup, he trod on a boundary toblerone ahead of a game against Pakistan at an empty Gabba and ruptured ligaments in his left ankle, ruling him out of the tournament.There was a sense of relief, then, that he made it through England’s low-key win over Bangladesh unscathed on Monday night. Not only that: he returned figures 3 for 23 in his five overs, spread across two spells with torrential rain causing a long delay between them, and delivered an inch-perfect yorker to Mahedi Hasan with his first ball after the break.”I’ve been steering clear of any mishaps and playing it quite safe – and I’ll continue to do so ahead of the first game,” Topley said, before England flew to Ahmedabad on Tuesday afternoon. “Obviously I don’t want any repeat of what was so gutting last year. It was a tough period to go through.Related

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“I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, because these are the moments and the events that you dream of being a part of… hopefully I can play my part this year and make up for lost time, if anything, and make a contribution to England going all the way again. I’m looking forward to getting some game time, just as I was anticipating last year, and this time, hopefully, I can help the team retain the trophy.”For England, it was a useful run-out after their first warm-up game, against India, was wiped out entirely by rain. “We got everything we needed from the game,” Topley said. “What we did out there was a steady effort, but nothing too taxing, to be honest – so, a good box ticked to get us ready and raring to go for the opening match.”Topley will be in the selection mix when England train in Ahmedabad on Wednesday night ahead of Thursday’s tournament opener against New Zealand. He is one of six frontline seamers in the squad, and while he may miss out if they select only three, his case for inclusion is helped by an impressive record against left-handers – with New Zealand likely to field four in their top seven. Topley averages 22.07 against left-hand batters in ODIs, and 29.58 against right-handers.”Everyone is fighting for a spot in that final XI,” Topley said. “But whatever XI they end up picking, the whole squad is right behind each other. It is going to take a squad effort to be successful out here, and the side that goes out in each match will continue to live up to the exciting way we play our cricket.”If anything I would say that I’m pretty undercooked,” he admitted. “But, going into a long tournament, I don’t necessarily think that is the worst thing. I feel like I’m just about to come into my stride, hopefully.”It’s not about tearing in at the warm-up game and impressing the right people; it is about delivering in the nine group games. That last group game [against Pakistan on November 11] is still pretty far away so I feel like I’m where I should be, but there is still some work to be done for sure.”

Zimbabwe captain and allrounder available for entirety of tournament’s group stage

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Jan-2024Sikandar Raza, Zimbabwe’s captain and premier allrounder, has agreed to join Northamptonshire for the 2024 Vitality Blast.Raza, 37, is currently ranked as the fifth-best allrounder in T20I cricket, and recently became the first player in the format’s history to score five consecutive half-centuries. He has been nominated as the ICC Men’s T20I Cricketer of the Year.Raza has made more than 200 T20 appearances in his professional career, including appearances in the IPL, Caribbean Premier League, Pakistan Super League, Bangladesh Premier League and Lanka Premier League. This, however, will be his first appearance in England’s T20 competition.”I’m delighted to be coming to Northamptonshire.” Raza said. “This will be a different challenge for me but I’ve loved playing cricket in England in the past. It’s always been a wish to play in the Vitality Blast so I’m looking forward to fulfilling that.”John Sadler, Northamptonshire’s head coach, said: “We’re delighted with the signing of Sikandar for the Blast. He’s a very experienced, high performer on a global scale. He’s a three-dimensional cricketer who always has an impact in every game he plays, we know he’s also a fierce competitor which will be fantastic for us.”Raza will join the squad ahead of the tournament and is available for all 14 matches of the group stage.”I would like to entertain the fans and put a smile on their face with as many wins as possible,” he said.”Our first task is to secure a quarter-final spot and then take that momentum and belief into the latter stages and hopefully lift the trophy.”Looking at the side we have a decent squad and a lot of good players, I’m looking forward to using my experience to help us win as many games as possible and help the younger players as well.”

McMullen and Leask’s contributions weren’t enough for Scotland to chase down 199

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Jun-2025Opener Michael Levitt’s breezy 90 helped Netherlands beat Scotland by 17 runs in a high-scoring contest in the T20I tri-series in Glasgow on Wednesday. His 57-ball innings lifted Netherlands to 198 for 7 after they were asked to bat. In reply, Scotland managed only 181 for 9 on the back of Brandon McMullen’s half-century and Michael Leask’s quickfire 46.Netherlands lost Max O’Dowd and Teja Nidamanuru inside the powerplay but it was the 75-run third-wicket partnership off 45 balls between Levitt and Scott Edwards that steered Netherlands to a competitive total. While Levitt, who had scored a T20I century before, smashed six fours and five sixes in his knock, Edwards chipped in with a 21-ball 31. Fast bowler Charlie Cassell broke the threatening stand, trapping Edwards lbw in the 13th over. Three overs late, Levitt was dismissed by fast bowler Jasper Davidson. There were also handy lower-order contributions from Ryan Klein and Roelof van der Merwe that ensured Netherlands had enough on the board.For Scotland, Cassell and Davidson shared four wickets among them.In the chase, Scotland stumbled early, when opener Mark Watt was run out in the third over for a 9-ball 6. However, No.3 McMullen and George Munsey revived Scotland briefly with their 50-run stand for the third wicket. Offspinner Nidamanuru gave the breakthrough by ending Musney’s stay in the eighth over and dismissed captain Richie Berrington in his next over. McMullen too fell after a 27-ball 51 leaving Scotland in trouble.While No. 6 Leask stood up with his 46 off 23 – where he struck five sixes and one four – Scotland kept losing wickets regularly on the other end. From 151 for 5, Scotland lost the next four wickets for 30 runs to eventually finish at 181 for 9. Netherlands’ left-arm spinner Van der Merwe, though leaked 44 runs in his four overs, accounted for two wickets in the 17th and 19th over to halt Scotland. Nidamanuru finished with 3 for 30 from his four overs while Aryan Dutt and Daniel Doram also scalped a wicket each.With this victory, Netherlands have moved to top of the points table with four points from three matches. They will face Nepal on Thursday Scotland are second with two points from three matches.