SCOTLAND FALL TO NARROW DEFEAT AGAINST ENGLAND
Scotland's hopes of progressing to the next stage of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup suffered a blow as they fell to a five-wicket defeat to England at Eden Gardens.
Put into bat by Harry Brook, Scotland were bowled out for 152 - a total that always looked under par, with the Scots having been in a strong position to post a much more significant score at 113-3 with seven overs remaining.
England suffered an early scare in reply, as Phil Salt and Jos Buttler fell inside the opening two overs, but Tom Banton ensured his side were always up with the required rate - finishing with an unbeaten 63 as England reached their target in the 19th over.
Richie Berrington said: "The dressing room's hurting a little bit now, we certainly had a lot of belief going into that game that if we played our best cricket, and executed our skills well, we were right in with a chance, and we showed that for large parts of the game.
"In the first innings we felt we were 20-25 runs short, with those extra runs on the board I think it would have put us right in the contest."
Scotland suffered a difficult start with the bat, as George Munsey (4) and Brandon McMullen (0) both fell to the Jofra Archer short ball in the space of three balls - and when Michael Jones fell for a fine 33, Scotland were 42-3 in the sixth over.
That brought Richie Berrington and Tom Bruce together in the powerplay once again - and just like in the West Indies, they brought their side firmly back into the game, adding 71 in 41 deliveries, particularly dominating the spin of Adil Rashid and Liam Dawson.
But just as in the West Indies game, Berrington (49) and Bruce (24) fell in quick succession to spark a lower-order collapse, five wickets falling for just 14 runs as Scotland slid from 113-3 to 127-8.
Olly Davidson offered some lower-order resistance as he struck an impressive 15-ball 20 to lift his side over 150 - but he was left stranded, as Brad Currie's run out saw Scotland dismissed for 152 with two balls remaining.
Whilst 152 always looked under par, Scotland were up for the fight as Brandon McMullen and Brad Currie combined to remove the dangerous pair of Salt (2) and Buttler (3) in consecutive overs.
Banton, alongside Jacob Bethell, steadied the ship - adding 66 for the second wicket - and got England ahead of the required rate as Banton took Mark Watt for three consecutive sixes in the ninth over.
Scotland did hit back when Olly Davidson dismissed Bethell (32) and Michael Leask removed Brook (4) cheaply in back-to-back overs, as England slipped to 86-4.
But Banton and Sam Curran ensured there would be no wobble, adding 46 for the fifth wicket. Although Curran (28) fell to Brad Wheal, Will Jacks and Banton saw their side over the line with 10 deliveries remaining.
Scotland are next in action on Tuesday afternoon against Nepal from 1330 GMT.