Scotland Stun Top-Ranked England By Six Runs In ODI Upset

Scotland beat England by six runs to record the greatest win in their cricket history as they held their nerve in a lone one-day international at Edinburgh on Sunday. Calum MacLeod's superb 140 not out powered non-Test nation Scotland to a record 371 for five against an England side who are top of the one-day international rankings. It looked as if England would chase down their huge target while opener Jonny Bairstow was making 105 but they suffered a middle-order collapse and the match ended with seven balls remaining when Scotland paceman Saf Sharif had England No 11 Mark Wood plumb lbw to seal a famous victory, with the visitors all out for 365. The win came after Scotland agonisingly just missed out on a place for the 2019 World Cup in England and Wales after rain interrupted their decisive qualifying match against the West Indies at Harare in March.

MacLeod made 140 not out as Scotland surpassed their previous record total at this level of 341 for nine against fellow non-Test nation Canada at Christchurch four years ago.

"We're always trying to get someone to stick their hand up and we always celebrate each other's success," MacLeod told Sky Sports during the break between innings.

"I hit it nicely. It was a lovely feeling and nice to do it in a crowd this big. Anything above 350 is a big total and we know how dangerous this England side can be, so now it's up to us to bowl well."

The Scots, sent into bat by England captain Eoin Morgan, lost two wickets in quick succession to be 107 for two off 15 overs.

Matthew Cross (48) and Scotland captain Kyle Coetzer (58) got the hosts off to a solid start with a century stand for the first wicket.

England checked their progress as leg-spinner Adil Rashid had Coetzer caught behind with wicket-keeper Sam Billings, behind the stumps in place of the rested Jos Buttler, also catching Cross off fast bowler Liam Plunkett. 

But MacLeod ensured a promising start to the innings was not wasted and together with George Munsey (55) he shared a fourth-wicket stand of 107.

The 29-year-old MacLeod went to a hundred off just 70 balls, his seventh at this level but his first against an active Test nation and the first by any Scotland batsman against England.

In total, MacLeod faced just 94 balls including 16 fours and three sixes.

An England attack missing the injured Ben Stokes had a match to forget, with Plunkett's 10 overs costing 85 runs.

David Willey also got plenty of punishment in a return of none for 72 as Scotland, who were 200 for three after 30 overs, upped their run-rate to go well beyond 350.  

This was Scotland's first match since March, when they narrowly missed out on qualification for the 2019 World Cup in England and Wales.

Topics mentioned in this article

England Cricket Team Scotland Jonny Bairstow Calum MacLeod Cricket