Scotland fails to chase NZ's 172 runs by a deficit of 16 runs

Not the easiest win for the Kiwis as they had to work hard to gather these two points, but, in the end, their experience and skill have shone brightly as they have won their second game of the Super 12, beating Scotland by 16 runs. This win also means that they take another important step towards making the semis. Scotland tried hard and pushed right towards the end, but, it was just not meant to be as they are yet to open their account in the Super 12s.

Scotland fought hard and valiantly in this game but lost the plot towards the end. Even though they lost their skipper early in the Powerplay, a decent stand between George Munsey and Matthew Cross of 45 runs helped keep the scoreboard ticking. Both of them fell in quick succession and the Scots were under some pressure. Calum MacLeod and Richie Berrington tried to up the tempo and they did score a couple of boundaries but they were not able to continue as in the span of 4 runs, both of them departed. The run rate kept creeping up and the Scottish batters were not able to keep up, but, Michael Leask did show some fight towards the end with his unbeaten knock of 42, from just 20 balls, but they fell short by 16 runs and remain winless in the tournament.

The Kiwis will be glad that it worked out for them, in the end. A total of 172 seemed to be a good one but with the way some of the Scottish batters played early on, you would think that they could take this game even more closer, but the Black Caps did enough to cross the finish line. Chipping away with the wickets was the key for them and they did that well. The change of bowlers by Williamson also was important as when he got Southee and Boult back on, in the middle overs, they delivered and broke the partnerships that were building. Mitchell Santner was very economical in the middle overs, conceding only 23 runs in his quota of 4 overs. Trent Boult impressed once again, ending with figures of 4-0-29-2. Sodhi was another one, ending with 2 wickets to his name, but he had an expensive outing. Southee was lethal too with his smart bowling, as he finished with one wicket.

Martin Guptill, Man of the Match: [On him tiring during batting] We have a day off tomorrow, so I won't be doing much then. We didn't have a great start. It wasn't a rescue mission, but Glenn and I had to assess. I have played a lot of cricket with him, and we have put up a lot of partnerships for Auckland. A few missed balls and we were able to get them away and get some momentum. Not ideal with the running, but we got there in the end. Afghanistan are a great side and we can't take them lightly.

Kyle Coetzer, Scotland Captain: We will have to go back and look at those opportunities that we couldn't take, the next little step and keep them under pressure. We picked up a couple of quick wickets at the back end of the powerplay. Maybe that's something we need to look at. They controlled the innings well, Martin Guptill played an outstanding knock. This is the best pitch we have played on thus far. If you restricted another 10 runs, the game could have been different. Often I don't like to keep bowlers bowling more than 2 overs in T20 cricket. It's about trying to change the pace and try and not let the batter to settle against set bowlers. That was the idea there to chop and change as much as you can. Mark Watt was excellent again today. Greaves was unlucky. There were opportunities. We need to look back at those. Mark is very confident at the moment. Trusts himself to use the crease, the depth, the angles. He backs himself to nail any of the deliveries he is looking to bowl. This is our best performance in the Super 12, but we have to go back and see. We were actually a couple of runs ahead of NZ at the 10-over mark. We have to try and extend the game. Leask got us close. Ultimately we left that gap too big.

Kane Williamson, New Zealand Captain: We certainly knew coming into this tournament that there were match winners all around. It ebbed and flowed and we got a good first innings total. We were patchy with the ball but we need to move on. Credit to Scotland for the way they played and hit the ball out of the park.We were tested and we need to learn from this. Guptill is a power player. He is hitting the ball beautifully. We really needed his innings. Also Glenn Phillips, and that partnership was necessary to get us to a good total. A quick turnaround now, recover as quickly as possible for the next challenge. There are always things to work on, and there are definitely a few things we want to touch on. We need to adjust quickly to surfaces. It was a hard fought match. We will go to Sharjah and take it from there. Every game is valuable and we know we try and prepare as well as possible for all of them. The next game is the only game that matters. For us it is all about playing the cricket we want to play and stay committed to that.