Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: Nepal earned its second victory in 10 ICC World Cricket League-2 matches, defeating Scotland by five wickets in Dallas on Wednesday morning.
Fielding first, Nepal restricted Scotland to 154 runs in 41.4 overs and then chased down the target with five wickets and 121 balls remaining.
Mark Watt top-scored for Scotland with 34 runs from 40 balls. Scotland’s batters got starts but failed to convert. Scotland lost Charlie Tear in the very first over, bowled by Karan KC, for a duck. Michael Jones and Captain Richie Berrington scored 19 each, while Andrew Umeed and Michael Leask got 14 runs each. Brandon McMullen and Matthew Cross scored 15 and 14, respectively. Brad Wheal scored nine.
Sandeep Lamichhane took three wickets for Nepal, while Karan KC, Sompal Kami, and Gulshan Jha grabbed two wickets each. Aarif Sheikh also claimed a wicket.
Anil Sah and Aasif Sheikh added 32 runs for the first wicket as Nepal sought only its second victory in the WCL-2 series. Anil scored 13, while Aasif hit 21 off 34 balls. Although Kushal Malla and Rohit Paudel fell cheaply for seven and one run, respectively, Kushal Bhurtel and Aarif Sheikh added 37 runs for the fifth wicket before Sheikh formed a 57-run partnership for the sixth wicket to take Nepal home in the 30th over.
Aarif struck a magnificent half-century, scoring 51 from 42 balls, including a four on the last ball. Gulshan Jha and Kushal Bhurtel scored 25 each.
Brandon McMullen took two wickets for Scotland, while Brad Currie, Mark Watt, and Jack Jarvis claimed a wicket each.
Nepal is seventh in the eight-team WCL-2 table with five points from 10 matches, while Scotland is fourth with 11 points from nine matches. Canada is at the top of the WCL-2 table with 16 points from 12 matches.
Head-to-Head Record
This was the seventh ODI encounter between Nepal and Scotland, with Nepal now leading the series 4-3.
Nepal claimed victory in their first ODI match against Scotland by five wickets in Glasgow on July 13, 2022. Following that, Nepal lost three consecutive ODIs to Scotland — one in Glasgow and two in Windhoek, Namibia.
In the home tri-series held in Kathmandu, Nepal defeated Scotland twice in February last year.
With the latest win in Dallas on Wednesday morning, Nepal has now secured its fourth victory over Scotland.
Performance in WCL-2
Nepal began its WCL-2 campaign by losing three matches in the home series with the Netherlands and Namibia. It lost both matches against Namibia, won one against the Netherlands, and lost one.
In the second tri-series in Canada, Nepal lost both matches against Canada and one against Oman. Its second match with Oman was washed out.
Nepal conceded a three-wicket defeat in the first match of its third tri-series against the US, but won the second match against Scotland by five wickets.
Nepal will play one match each against the US and Scotland in the tri-series.
Each country plays 36 matches in nine tri-series through 2027.
