Papua New Guinea gave a much improved performance but a disciplined bowling effort combined with a half-century from Kyle Coetzer helped Scotland defeat PNG in the 2nd ODI by 4 wickets at Dubai International Stadium and win the series 2-0.
PNG batted first and did not have a great start as they were down to 30/2. The score became more troublesome at 52/4 when Michael Leask sent back both Lega Siaka and Assad Vala in the 20th and 22nd overs respectively. Sese Bau (41 off 59) and Mahuru Dai steadied the innings with a 66-run partnership for the 5th wicket, before Con de Lange got Sese out.
Dai hung around for sometime till he got out for 38 and it was left to Jake Vare’s 25-ball 28 towards the end, that helpled PNG to 192/8 in their 50 overs. Mark Watt with 3/21 and Leask’s 2/42 were the notable returns from the Scottish bowlers.
Matthew Cross departed early in the Scottish chase in the second over following which, Calum MacLeod, came in and added 61 runs with Coetzer for the 2nd wicket before Vala had MacLeod caught and bowled for 19 runs.
Coetzer held up one end and forged another partnership with Richie Berrington, with a 57-run third-wicket stand before Coetzer (66 off 85) got out to John Reva, with Scotland at 121/3. Scotland lost 2 more wickets quickly to get reduced to 155/5, before Con de Lange & George Munsey took Scotland to 180 before Munsey fell for a run-a-ball 17. De Lange stayed till the end, scoring 18 not out in 29 balls, and along with Safyaan Sharif, took Scotland to 196/6 in 46.2 overs to win the contest by 4 wickets.
John Reva was the pick of the bowlers with 3/40 and got support from Chad Soper, who picked up 2/33.
