England beat Scotland in a warm up game at Edinburgh, on Saturday, by 7 wickets prior to their limited over Cricket series against Australia next week.
After winning the toss Scotland elected to bat first. The openers were found struggling as James Anderson made the ball swing opener. Ryan Watson was sent back for a duck, as Swann took a catch off Anderson’s bowling, on the 4th ball of the innings.
From there on Gavin Hamilton, who after a brief stint for England is back in Scotland, put on a good 2nd wicket partnership alongside Kyle Coetzer. Both showed glimpses of what the Scotland team had to offer. Both batsmen were cautious and made sure they outlived the shine of the ball. The pair seemed quite content to play out the initial overs without much runs. Hamilton exploited the cover area of the ground and played some extravagant cover drives, while Coetzer was more dominant on the leg side of the field. A number of deft touches and glance off his hips got him to 50 before being caught by Yardy off his own bowing, for 51 runs, with the score at 87. Coetzer scored eight boundaries for his maiden half century innings and the pro-batting period of the innings was pretty much over. This was because none of the batsmen who came down the order could make much of an impression, except for Dougie Lockhart. Josh Davey was in next but was soon sent back by Yardy for only 4 runs after being trapped leg before in front of the wicket. Yardy lept on bowling wicket to wicket as he went on to claim the wicket of Berrington, caught by Stuart Broad, scoring only 3 runs from 8 balls.
The next man in was Neil McCallum who provided some stability to the innings, with 22 runs, while Hamilton continued from the other end. Hamilton was the next one to go as he tried to go down the pitch against Swann’s off spin and was left stranded in the middle of the pitch. As a result Kieswetter knocked off the bails at ease. Hamilton scored 48 solid runs from 77 balls, and hit only 3 boundaries, as for most part of the innings he was holding up one end.
McCallum was the next man to go after scoring 22 runs, from 38 balls, which included a six and a four. He was caught by Swann off Collingwood’s bowling. From there on Lockhart took charge of the innings, and started scoring from one end while wickets kept tumbling at the other. Parker who came in at number 8 was trapped leg before wicket by off spinner Swann for just 2 runs. He was soon followed by Majid Haq who was bold by James Anderson for only 11 runs. Lockhart was running out of partners so he started playing some big strokes. After a couple of good strikes he was cleaned up by Shahzad for 46 runs from 53 balls. There was not much to follow, as the whole team was bowled out on 211 with one ball left in the innings. Yardy was the most successful bowler claiming 3 wickets.
Chasing a modest target England, the current Twenty20 champions, came down hard on the Scottish bowlers. Both openers Andrew Strauss and Craig Kieswetter punished the Scottish attack right from the start. Strauss was at his best, elegantly cutting and pulling almost at will. On the other hand, Kieswetter showed why he has been dubbed as a bright prospect for the future with his aggressive stroke play. The opening pair put on 121 for the first wicket in just 15 overs. Strauss was dismissed for 61 from 43 balls, caught by McCallum on the bowling of Haq. He scored 12 boundaries in his innings and Kieswetter was caught by Coetzer on the bowling of Lyons for 69. A total of 8 boundaries and 2 towering sixes were smashed by him. By the 33rd over the match was all but over, as England cruised home with 7 wickets in hand, and more then 16 overs to spare.
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