Richie Berrington Opens Up After Scotland's T20 World Cup 2024 Loss Vs Australia, Says 'Couldn't Execute Our Fine Start...'

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Castries [Saint Lucia]: Following his side's five-wicket loss to Australia in their ICC T20 World Cup match, Scotland skipper Richie Berrington said that they could not capitalise towards the end with the ball and failed to carry forward their start with the ball for long enough.

Half-centuries from Travis Head and Marcus Stoinis helped Australia end the group stage unbeaten and defeated Scotland by five wickets in their ICC T20 World Cup match at Saint Lucia on Sunday.

Speaking in the post-match presentation, Richie said, "We were in a pretty good position at the halfway mark. Unfortunately, we could not capitalise towards the end. We had a really good start with the ball but we could not execute it for long enough. A few big overs towards the back end got them back into the game. There was a breeze on the ground, so we were just trying to get them hit away from the breeze. We were expecting a bit more with the bat after the position we got ourselves in, but I think the guys can hold their heads high. We played some really good cricket throughout the tournament. It was a great learning for us. We are a bit disappointed given the position we were in. We came here to qualify but could not do that."

With this win, Australia tops Group B with four wins in four games and eight points. Scotland failed to qualify for the Super Eights, finishing third with two wins, a loss and a no result, giving them five points. Defending champions England have walked into the Super Eights with this big assistance from their arch-rivals, as they also have the same win-loss record and points as Scotland, just the higher net-run-rate.

Coming to the match, Australia put Scotland to bowl first. After losing Michael Jones early, George Munsey (35 in 23 balls, with two fours and three sixes) and Brandon McMullen (60 in 34 balls, with two fours and six sixes) put a quickfire 89-run partnership to put Scotland back in the game. A fine knock from skipper Richie Berrington (42* in 30 balls, with a four and two sixes) took Scotland to 180/5 in 20 overs.

Glenn Maxwell (2/44) was the pick of the bowlers for Australia. Ashton Agar, Nathan Ellis and Adam Zampa got a wicket each.

In the run-chase of 181 runs, Australia lost some early wickets and were 60/3 at one point. Then, an 80-run partnership between Travis Head (68 in 49 balls, with five fours and four sixes) and Marcus Stoinis (59 in 29 balls, with seven fours and two sixes) took Australia to the brink of a win and Tim David (24* in 14 balls, with two fours and a six) applied some fine finishing to get the win with two balls left.

Mark Watt (2/34) was the pick of the bowlers for Scotland.