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Scotland 289 for 9 (Leask 91*, McBride 56, Watt 47, Adair 3-57) beat Ireland 286 for 8 (Campher 120, Dockrell 69, McMullen 5 for 34) by one wicket
Bulawayo: A late-order resurgence from Scotland turned the contest into a thriller. Led by Leask, Scotland pulled off a highly improbable win off the last ball. With this, they have won 13 of their last 14 ODIs batting second.
Mark Adair brought an early breakthrough for Ireland when he accounted for Matthew Cross in his very first over. Christopher McBride took the charge with the bat in the following overs, ensuring that his side maintained a healthy scoring rate. Adair struck again in the 11th over, when he got Brandon McMullen caught at the covers.
McBride continued to hold his end and maintained a positive scoring rate, reaching his fifty in the 18th over. However, the Ireland centurion Curtis Campher returned to strike with the ball, and had McBride (56) leg before in the 20th over. One brought two, as Ben White accounted for George Munsey (15) in the very next over, to put Ireland right on top.
Things only got worse for Scotland after the 25 over mark. Josh Little was exceptional in his second spell, and got rid of Scotland captain Richie Berrington and Tomas Mackintosh in the 26th and 28th over respectively. After Mackintosh's fall, Ireland need merely four wickets, while the batting side were 165 runs away from a win.
The Scotland lower-order then began to flutter. Chris Greaves scored a 20 before falling to George Dockrell in the 34th over. But it was the eighth-wicket stand between Michael Leask and Mark Watt which gave Ireland concerns. They took advantage of what remained a good batting strip, and added quick runs.
The feisty partnership of 82 runs off 67 balls was finally broken in the 46th over, when Dockrell had Watt (47) stumped. However, the danger for Ireland was far from over as Leask continued to fight from the other end.
He hit two sixes and two fours off Little as Scotland took 22 runs in the 47th over. With this, they needed 22 runs to win the game.
They took 14 off the next two to near in on a famous win. And when Leask hit the first ball of the final over for a four, the equation for Scotland was merely four runs in five deliveries.
However, Ireland clawed their way back in by picking a wicket and giving merely two runs off the next four balls. Leask was on strike when his side needed two off the final delivery.
A lucky inside edge beat the keeper as Scotland managed to finally get to a win.
In the first innings, Ireland were rescued by centurion Campher (120) and George Dockrell (69) after having been 33/4 at one stage. For Scotland, Brandon McMullen starred with the ball, picking 5/34 in seven overs.
Ireland had a terrible start to their innings when they lost opener Paul Stirling and skipper Andrew Balbirnie off back-to-back deliveries in the very first over. Young seamer Brandon McMullen was the orchestrator of this horror.
The Irish collapse continued when McMullen sent the No.7 batter in MRF Tyres ICC Men's ODI Player Rankings, Harry Tector, back to the pavilion in the fifth over. Scotland's grasp over the Powerplay was complete when Mark Watt stunned Lorcan Tucker with a delivery that bounced extra, and the right-hander edged the ball to first slip.
All-rounders Andy McBrine and Curtis Campher were forced to take the conservative route in order to rebuild. But the slow run rate increased the pressure on batting side, and McBrine (35) fell in the 19th over while going for a pull against Christopher McBride.
Ireland's no. 7, George Dockrell, who had hit an unbeaten 91 against Oman in Ireland's first group game, contributed with another crucial knock on this occasion. Along with Campher, he brought stability to the Irish innings before upping the scoring rate.
Together the duo added 136 off 25 overs, before Dockrell fell to McMullen in the 44th over. Campher, for his part, kept going for runs and with good assistance from Gareth Delany (19 from 14), helped Ireland finish strongly. On the way, he brought up his maiden ODI hundred.
