Cricket – Bradburn disappointed in defeat

Scotland head coach Grant Bradburn said his squad were “gutted” at not claiming the scalp of the No 1 team in the world at T20.

An unbeaten 89 not out from captain Sarfaz Ahmed from only 49 balls with ten fours and three sixes steered Pakistan to victory over Scotland in a T20 international at The Grange.

The result was a disappointment for fans, some of who had witnessed the historic six-run victory over England, the No 1 side in the world in one day international play, at the same venue on Sunday.

Kyle Coetzer’s men lost by 48 runs despite a knock of 31 including four fours and a six from the in-form Aberdeen-born skipper who notched a half-century in the win over The Auld Enemy.

The sides meet again at The Grange on Wednesday (4pm) in a second T20 fixture.

Pakistan scored 204 for four wickets and Scotland, in reply, lost six wickets in scoring 156, with Michael Leask second-top scorer with 38 not out from 24 balls.

Shoaib Malik also hit 53 from 27 balls, a knock which included five sixes, before Alasdair Evans claimed his third wicket for the loss of 23 runs.

Hasan Ali and Shadab Khan took two wickets each as Scotland replied Callum MacLeod, who hit 140 in Sunday’s win over England, lasted 15 balls before being trapped lbw off Khan for 12.

Ambitious Bradburn said: “We’re gutted, which is a great sign of where our team is at.

“We backed ourselves to compete and win against the No 1 team in the world and we’re disappointed we didn’t manage that.

“We were 50 runs short and I sense there was 30 runs in the bowling and 20 runs with the bat that we left out there. That’s the fine margins.”