Scotland's World Cup qualification hopes are officially over after their six-wicket defeat at the hands of Bangladesh earlier today. With four successive defeats from their ODI matches so far in the tournament in Pool A, they can no longer qualify for the later stages. It has proved to be a challenging event for them so far, with two games still to play, but they did at least have their first individual World Cup century to get excited about as Kyle Coetzer claimed his own piece of Scottish Cricket history.
Bangladesh may have begun to wonder if they had made the right decision in putting the Scots in to bat first in Nelson, as they compiled a competitive 318-8, their highest score when playing a Test playing nation. That sizeable total was mainly down to one man, as Coetzer demonstrated his ability with a wonderful innings of 156, almost half of his side's overall total. His sparkling innings included 17 fours and four sixes. By contrast, the rest of his team made far more modest contributions to the score with Matt Machan scoring 35 (sharing a partnership of 78 with Coetzer) and captain Preston Mommsen a handy 39.
Their major stand came for the fourth wicket, as they put on a spirited 141 off just 113 balls between Coetzer and Mommsen. Richie Berrington (26) and Mathew Cross (20) boosted the score towards the end, to ensure that they went over the 300 mark.
For the Bangladeshi bowlers, Taskin Ahmed returned 3-43 from his seven overs.
Bangladesh confidently chased the total down though, losing just four wickets in their pursuit as they amassed 322-4. Their major contributor was opener Tamim Iqbal with 95 priceless runs, as they reached their target with eleven balls remaining to be bowled. He shared in a 139-run second wicket partnership with Mohammad Mahmudullah (62) at better than a run a ball, after his fellow opener Soumya Sarkar had departed for just 2 runs with the score on five.
Mushfiqur Rahim batted aggressively when he came in at number four, adding a fine knock of 60 off 42 deliveries, including two sixes. Shakib Al Hasan (52) and Sabbir Rahman (42) saw the Bangladeshis home with an unbeaten fifth-wicket stand of 75.
Scotland still search for that elusive first World Cup victory, with their best chance probably now having gone, when they lost agonisingly by one wicket to Afghanistan earlier in the tournament. They will not be expected to take any points from their remaining matches against Sri Lanka and Australia, but their fighting spirit will no doubt endure despite their qualification hopes now being at an end.
Bangladesh by contrast move on to five points from their four matches played so far, knowing that success against the English in their next match or failing that against New Zealand in their final game in the group, would see them through to the quarter-finals at England's expense.