Heriot’s wicket keeper/bat Matthew Cross claimed player of the match honours while Jasper Davidson, from Grange, hit the winning runs as Scotland defeated UAE in the ICC World Cricket League in Dundee.
The victory sets up a potential “hat trick” of successes when the Scots conclude their campaign on Thursday against Canada having already clinched their place in next year’s qualification rounds for the 2027 world cup.
Wins don’t come tighter than this, though, as the UAE, buoyed by a century from Adeeb Usami, set a target of 231-8 in a match reduced from 50 to 40 overs per side after early rain.
What’s more the Scots got off to a horror start by losing two wickets almost straight away but gradually repaired the damage through skipper Richie Berrington (39), Michael Jones (44) and, of course, star man Cross who smashed 66 from 51 deliveries.
Going into the last over the Scots still needed 10 runs and a six from Safyaan Sharif before being run out straightaway meant the Scots were down to their last batter – Owen Jones.
He helped Jasper Davidson run a double to tie the scores before the Grange man found the boundary to complete a remarkable win which had looked beyond the hosts for long spells of a match where an electronic failure meant much of the scoring had to be done manually with the score box out of order.
