‘Cooked’ Guptill leads New Zealand to win over Scotland

New Zealand’s Martin Guptill in action during the ICC Twenty20 World Cup match against Scotland in Dubai yesterday. (AFP)

Martin Guptill hit 93 and became only the second man to pass 3,000 Twenty20 International runs as New Zealand defeated Scotland by 16 runs at the World Cup yesterday. New Zealand made 172-5 before Scotland battled to a respectable 156-5 off their 20 overs. The Kiwis’ second win in three matches in the Super 12 stage kept them on course for the semi-finals. Pakistan have already reached the last four from Group 2 leaving New Zealand, Afghanistan and India to fight for the last qualifying spot. Tournament favourites India have to beat Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi later Wednesday to avoid elimination after two losses in two games. Put into bat, 35-year-old opener Guptill put on 105 for the fourth wicket with Glenn Phillips. Guptill made his runs off 56 balls with six fours and seven sixes. His first six off Alasdair Evans in the sixth over allowed him to pass 3,000 runs in the format, second only to India captain Virat Kohli. “I was pretty cooked. We’ve got a day off so I won’t be doing much tomorrow,” said Guptill after batting almost the entire innings in blistering heat. “We didn’t have a great start, losing three wickets in the powerplay. Glenn and I had to assess the situation and get a partnership together. We created a bit of momentum.” Phillips made a steady 33 off 37 balls before he was dismissed by Brad Wheal. The Scottish bowler also accounted for a weary Guptill off the next ball of the 19th over as the opener attempted to cart him over long on.  Guptill now has 3,069 runs in T20 Internationals while Kohli leads the way on 3,225. “It’s pretty cool but it’s not necessarily about the personal milestones or anything like that,” added Guptill. “It’s about getting the wins for the team. Today was a good day for us and we go again in a couple days’ time to hopefully do it again (against Namibia).” Despite taking two wickets in two balls, Wheal conceded 40 runs off his four overs. Scotland skipper Kyle Coetzer admitted he was briefly dreaming of an upset win. “There were a couple of moments. We picked up three wickets coming out of the power play. That was really important for us,” he said. “The class of Guptill showed through there I thought, and Phillips when he came in, they built a really powerful partnership.” New Zealand, who earned their first points of the tournament with an eight-wicket mauling of India last time out, hit 35 from the first four overs, 24 of those off Wheal. But Safyaan Sharif then sent back Daryl Mitchell for 13 and, four balls later, claimed the key wicket of skipper Kane Williamson for nought. At the midway point, the Black Caps were 70-3 before Guptill completed his 18th T20 half century off 35 balls with another six, his 150th in the format. Sharif was the pick of the Scottish bowlers with 2-28. In reply, the Scots were on course at 10 overs when they were 76-2. Matthew Cross made a useful 27, hitting five boundaries in five balls at one stage off Adam Milne. Matthew Leask gave Scotland hope with a brisk, undefeated 42 off 20 balls with three fours and three sixes. However, the greater experience of the New Zealand attack was potent enough to apply the brakes with Trent Boult taking 2-29, Tim Southee 1-24 and slow left-armer Mitchell Santner only conceding 23 runs off his four wicketless overs. The loss confirmed Scotland’s exit from the tournament.BRIEF SCORES New Zealand 172/5 (Guptill 93, Phillips 33; Sharif 2/28, Wheal 2/40) bt Scotland 156/5 (Leask 42 not out, Cross 27; Boult 2/29, Sodhi 2/42).