SCOTLAND more than earned their stripes against the Tigers. Few had given them a chance of defeating Bangladesh in their opening game at the T20 World Cup, a side sitting sixth in the world and who claimed recent warm-up series wins over Australia and New Zealand.
Those inside the Saltires camp, however, felt differently, believing they have a group capable of not only reaching the Super 12 phase but competing with the game’s big guns when they get there.
This six-run win further vindicated that stance. It was a helter-skelter of a contest as Scotland recovered from a dramatic batting collapse that saw them slump to 53/6 to post a total of 140/9 thanks mainly to a record-breaking seventh wicket partnership between Mark Watt and Chris Greaves.
The latter was making only his second-ever T20I appearance for his adopted country and would go on to further burnish his credentials by taking two wickets with the ball to prevent Bangladesh from ever really getting into their stride.
A big six in the final over made it tighter than really ought to have been the case but Shane Burger’s men deservedly got over the line by the end to spark a raucous rendition of Flower of Scotland in the dressing room.
A victory in their final two group games against Papua New Guinea tomorrow or Oman tomorrow will likely see them pass safely through and Burger could scarcely hide his glee at the start his team had made.
“We’re buzzing – it’s a wonderful feeling when a plan comes together,” he said. “We believe this is the start of the World Cup journey for us. We’ve set high goals and aspirations and while tonight was incredibly close it was good to see that even in tough positions we still believed.
“The greatest compliment I can give this team this evening is that we belonged on that field and I’m incredibly proud. It was an inspiring performance from the lads and I’m really happy, but we know there’s a lot still to do.
“We always believed that we could beat them but we also know that this is just another game and we’re going to have to put it behind us pretty quickly because we have another one coming in a couple of days. We also know in this competition that any team can beat any other team, so we can’t take our eye off the ball.”
That the victory was largely achieved by a player who was recently working as a delivery man made the occasion even more remarkable, as captain Kyle Coetzer revealed.
“I’m really proud of Greavo as he’s sacrificed a lot,” he said. “He was driving about delivering parcels for Amazon not that long ago and now he’s out here winning the man-of-the-match against Bangladesh.
‘It was an incredible day for Chris but it certainly wasn’t a surprise for us. We knew he had the ability to do that as he’s shown some exciting skills for us so far on this tour.
‘It was so nice to see him with the belief that he had when he took on the Bangladesh bowlers.”
Like his head coach, Coetzer – who celebrated his 200th appearance – was not surprised by what Scotland had achieved.
He added: “It’s a great feeling. It’s something we believed we could achieve. It didn’t quite go all our way but it’s a special feeling to beat Bangladesh.
“They gave us a lesson at the start of the innings so it took a real fighting effort today. I kept telling the players we were never out of the game. We wanted to make a scene and this is our opportunity and platform to do that.
“It’s a huge win for us. It’s something we’ve been planning for for a long time when we had hardly played cricket for two years. I’m really proud of everyone. We’ll take a lot of confidence from that day as Bangladesh are an extremely good side. Ultimately coming out winners was really important for us. We still have room to improve but this is undoubtedly a massive step in the right direction.”
Scotland hadn’t got off to a great start when Coetzer lost the toss and was then bowled for a seven-ball duck.
George Munsey offered some spark with 29 but when he and Matt Cross (11) fell in the same over, and Richie Berrington, Michael Leask and Calum MacLeod went not long after, the Scots looked up against it.
Instead, Greaves’ fighting spirit, however, sparked a comeback that will live long in the memory.
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