Cricket World Cup 2015 Notepad: Top Shot, Delivery, Catch and More from Day 4
After Ireland's stunning victory over the West Indies in Nelson on Monday, Scotland entered Tuesday's clash with hosts New Zealand in Dunedin hoping to cause another stir.
Though the Scots don't have the same giant-killing World Cup history as the Irish, Preston Mommsen's men will have been buoyed by Monday's surprising upset.
But sent in by Brendon McCullum in swing-friendly conditions, Scotland's hopes of causing another shock were effectively ended within five overs. Continuing their form that's been evident for more than 12 months, Kiwi opening pair Trent Boult and Tim Southee tore through the visitors' top order, removing Kyle Coetzer, Calum MacLeod, Hamish Gardiner and Mommsen in the space of just 26 balls to leave the men in blue reeling at 12-4.
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Indicative of their excellence, both New Zealand's opening bowlers had the opportunity to claim a hat-trick.
From there, a brief rearguard partnership from Matt Machan and Richie Berrington gave the tourists a glimmer of hope as they reached 109-4 but another collapse saw them slump to 142 all out inside 37 overs.
Remarkably, four Scotland batsmen (MacLeod, Gardiner, Mommsen and Iain Wardlaw) recorded first-ball ducks, which, according to BBC Sport, is a World Cup first and only the third such occurrence in one-day international cricket. Majid Haq also recorded a second-ball duck.
In response, the home side raced to the total required in just 24.5 overs, but they did get a real scare as they lost seven wickets in the process, with only Kane Williamson passing 30 in a very underwhelming display from the Black Caps.
Shot of the Day
In conjunction with Machan's classy innings that briefly led Scotland out of trouble, Berrington played an important role for his side with a composed 50 from 80 deliveries at the other end.
Undoubtedly the highlight of his knock was a colossal six in the 26th over off the bowling of Daniel Vettori.
In a stand-and-deliver style, the right-hander blasted the veteran spinner down the ground and onto the roof of the commentary box.
Watching the ball sail toward them, the broadcasters behind the microphones might have momentarily felt they were about to be involved in the sort of incident comically put together in the iconic The Twelfth Man series.
Delivery of the Day
It was impossible to split them. In fact, they were almost identical.
So we've gone with both.
In his first over—the game's second—Boult claimed the wickets of MacLeod and Gardiner. Both lbw. Both first-ball ducks. Both dismissed with delightful, in-swinging deliveries from the left-armer's over-the-wicket approach.
Boult's ability to move the ball in the air is now revered around the world, and as a batsman, deliveries such as these are the last thing you want to receive as you face the first ball of your innings.
Scotland never really recovered from the left-armer's early blows.
Catch of the Day
The were few highlights in the field in Dunedin on Tuesday, with the day more notable for a couple of dropped catches during New Zealand's innings (Gardiner and Wardlaw put down chances from McCullum and Corey Anderson).
But McCullum produced a nice catch to dismiss the impressive Machan, who'd led Scotland's fightback after the hosts' early onslaught.
The left-hander top-edged a pull-shot off the bowling of Anderson that the Kiwi captain made good ground to and claimed the catch at mid-on with a controlled dive to halt the visitors' biggest partnership.
Reaction
"New Zealand's inability to convert hat-tricks is going to be their undoing this World Cup.
— Alt Cricket (@AltCricket) February 16, 2015"
Pool A
| New Zealand | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | +2.624 |
| Australia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | +2.220 |
| Afghanistan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
| Bangladesh | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
| Sri Lanka | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1.960 |
| England | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2.220 |
| Scotland | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -3.039 |
Wednesday's Schedule
Wednesday will see Afghanistan and Bangladesh begin their respective World Cup campaigns when the two sides meet at Manuka Oval in Canberra.
It's an important opportunity for the two sides, given that both will be eyeing the fourth qualifying spot in Pool A—a group that could become congested from third to seventh with Australia and New Zealand clearly looking a cut above the rest.
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