Story ICC World Twenty20 2018 (What if?)

[Viper.]

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Group Stage​

Scotland vs Ireland
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Group B, Match 4
14th August, 15:30 Local
Live from St George's Park, Gqeberha​

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Pitch Report: A different Gqeberha pitch is used, which has a few cracks and it will be an even contest for bat and ball. It is also a bit slow.

Toss: Scotland skipper Coetzer calls tails, it lands heads. Wilson has won the toss for Ireland.

Gary Wilson: We'd like to bowl first as well. The conditions here seem better for chasing. And we feel we can restrict them and chase the runs down. We're going with 3 pacers and 2 spinners, with KOB as the sixth option if required.

Ireland - Paul Stirling, William Porterfield, Andrew Balbirnie, Kevin O'Brien, James Shannon, Gary Wilson , Simi Singh, Stuart Thompson, George Dockrell, Boyd Rankin, Peter Chase

Kyle Coetzer: We'd have liked to win the toss, but honestly the pitch feels not so inclined to either. We're not disappointed, our batters are ready to get us a good score and we can defend it. We too are going with 3 pacers and 2 spin, Berrington being our sixth option. We are sticking to experience and picking our senior players, while Dylan Budge has performed well in warm-ups and will play today.

Scotland - George Munsey, Kyle Coetzer , Richie Berrington, Calum MacLeod, Dylan Budge, Matthew Cross , Michael Leask, Josh Davey, Mark Watt, Alasdair Evans, Safyaan Sharif
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Ireland won the toss and opt to bowl first.​

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1st Innings​

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Scotland got off to a quick start, as Munsey & Coetzer plundered 32 runs in 3 overs before the skipper fell to Rankin. Munsey & Berrington stitched a solid partnership that lasted till the 12th over till Munsey departed right before his fifty to Peter Chase, who would go on to take a five-wicket-haul in a brilliant spell of 5/32 (4) that inflicted a late-overs collapse to the Scotland Batting. Cruising at 99/2 in 12 overs, they lost 8 wickets for 37 runs in the last 7.2 overs as Chase and co downed the entire order for single-digits apart from Cross, Scotland bowled out for 136 after a very promising start.
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Ireland need 137 runs to win off 20 overs​

@ 6.85 RPO​

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2nd Innings​

Brace yourselves folks as we have the first SUPER OVER of the competition! Kevin O'Brien remains not out as the Irish come so close in the last over in a tense chase only to end on scores levelled. Scottish quick Alasdair Evans removed the entire top 3 for cheap in the powerplay as Ireland got off to a very shaky start. But the experienced duo of O'Brien & captain Wilson stitch a partnership of 42 quick runs to steady the chase, before the captain departed for 36 off 26. Wickets continued to tumble on the other end featuring a Dylan Budge double strike in over 19 with KOB stuck holding at the other end. With a big last-over target to get, Rankin & KOB go hard only to come ever so close yet so far, with scores tied on 136 a piece, for the loss of eight after 20. We will be moving onto a super over, Ireland batting first.
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Spoiler: Super Over

Super Over​

1st Innings​

Kevin O'Brien & Gary Wilson come out to bat for Ireland, while Alasdair Evans will bowl the super over for the Scots.

Ball 1 - Evans to O'Brien - DOT. O'Brien misses the ball completely as Evans gets the better of him.
Ball 2 - Evans to O'Brien - THREE. O'Brien sweeps it to no man's land and they run a quick three.
Ball 3 - Evans to Wilson - DOT. Wilson hits it straight to Evans who fields it low. No run again.
Ball 4 - Evans to Wilson - TWO. Wilson flicks it and they come back for two. Five runs on board so far.
Ball 5 - Evans to Wilson - OUT! Clean Bowled from Evans who sees through Wilson's defence and knocks over the woodwork.

Gary Wilson - 2 (3) - b Alasdair Evans

Paul Stirling comes in to face the final delivery

Ball 6 - Evans to Stirling - ONE. Just a single as Stirling fails to connect. So that will be it for Ireland, just six runs. Brilliant bowling from Evans and Scotland.


Ireland - 6/1
Kevin O'Brien - 3* (2)
Gary Wilson - 2 (3)
Paul Stirling - 1* (1)
Alasdair Evans - 1/6 (1 over)




Alasdair Evans bowls a brilliant super over conceding only six runs, and taking the wicket of Gary Wilson to restrict Ireland's super over exploits. Now it is all upto the Scotland batters to chase this down in their six balls.
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2nd Innings​

George Munsey & Kyle Coetzer walk out for Scotland. Surprisingly, it is Rankin who bowls in the super over, due to his superior experience.

Ball 1 - Rankin to Munsey - OUT! Clean bowled! Rankin strikes first ball and sends Munsey packing, and Scotland are off to a terrible start here.

George Munsey - 0 (1) - b Boyd Rankin

Michael Leask walks in, ahead of the top-order batters, known for his power-hitting.

Ball 2 - Rankin to Leask - DOT. Leask misses it and Scotland are yet to kick off. 7 needed off 4.
Ball 3 - Rankin to Leask - OUT! Cleaned him up again! Rankin knocks over the stumps for the second time and it's all over for Ireland.

Michael Leask - 0 (2) - b Boyd Rankin


Scotland - 0/2
Kyle Coetzer - 0* (0)
George Munsey - 0 (1)
Michael Leask - 0 (2)
Boyd Rankin - 2/0 (0.3 overs)




Boyd Rankin double strike! WICKET, DOT, WICKET, as Rankin takes Ireland to an incredible win after a disappointing batting innings in the super over. Both Munsey & Leask found him unplayable and captain Coetzer remained speechless on the other end, as Ireland take the victory in a barely close super over that was all party for the bowlers.​

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Spoiler: Result

Ireland won the super over by 6 runs​

MOTM: Peter Chase​

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Points: Ireland 2, Scotland 0​

 

[Viper.]

Ngidi, Kaul strike big with ball in heated first day of Super 12 Warm-Ups​

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Lungi Ngidi took six to down Pakistan for 77 in a one-sided warm-up victory for the Proteas​

Day 1 of the Super 12 warm-ups got underway along with the first round games on the 14th of August in Bloemfontein & Benoni as the eight auto-qualified sides took on each other in unofficial twenty20 games.​

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England took on Australia in the morning game at Benoni as part of the age-old rivalry that won't feature in the main tournament. Jonny Bairstow & Dawid Malan's knocks helped them fight off Australia's bowling charge to post 148/8, boosted by a double-maximum barrage by Liam Plunkett in the last over. Coulter-Nile & Stanlake were the pick of the Australian bowlers. Australia responded strongly, with Chris Lynn setting the platform with a 38 (23) but it was Glenn Maxwell who finished things off with an unbeaten 54 off 37 balls, to guide Australia to a win over their long-time rivals.​

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Meanwhile in Bloemfontein India played New Zealand, with the former electing to bat first. Rohit Sharma starred with a brilliant 35-ball 76 that featured 12 boundaries, anchored by Shikhar Dhawan on the other end. Finishers Karthik & MS Dhoni's cameos at the end with four boundaries each pushed India to a competitive 194. In response, Colin Munro helped NZ get off to a blistering start but wickets tumbled on the other end, as everybody else bar Anderson fell for single digits. Munro's 25-ball fifty went in vain as Siddarth Kaul claimed a five-wicket haul as NZ were shot down for 103 in 17 overs to gift India an 81 run win.​

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The South Africa vs Pakistan encounter in Benoni in the afternoon saw Pakistan collapse on a struggling wicket, as Lungi Ngidi lead the fight with six wickets as nobody apart from Asif Ali crossed 20, and the side crumbled to just 77 in the end. In response Quinton de Kock lead the way for a composed eight-wicket chase with over six overs to spare, as South Africa comfortably cruised to a victory.​

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The final warm-up saw defending champions West Indies meet Afghanistan in Bloemfontein in the afternoon game. Afghanistan batted first and struggled to 136 off a fifty from Usman Ghani up top in 41 balls, with all Windies bowlers barring Keemo Paul taking a wicket each. In response Gayle & Fletcher blasted their way to a win in just 12 overs, Gayle unbeaten on 71.

The second round of Super 12 warm-ups commence on 16th August, to close the warm-up stage and gear up for the Super 12 round of the competition.​