Scotland captain Kyle Coetzer hailed a historic moment for cricket in this country after sealing progress to the Super 12 of the T20 World Cup.
An eight-wicket win over Oman made it three wins from three in the group and they can now relish testing themselves against the big boys of the world game.
Scotland had already beaten Bangladesh and Papua New Guinea to head into the day top of the group and they finished the job with an impressive triumph over the hosts.
They will advance to the Super 12 and Group B, starting their next round of games against Afghanistan in Sharjah on Monday.
Also in Group B are India, New Zealand, Pakistan and one of either Namibia or Ireland.
Coetzer told Sky Sports: “This is a great feeling. For cricket in Scotland this is huge, for us it is the opportunity to play on the biggest stage and test ourselves against the best and grow the game back home because the following has been immense.
“I think this group has a real togetherness, we have been through thick and thin, a lot of these guys have played together for many years.
“The guys have put in a lot of work over the last couple of years to develop their own games while the coaching staff have done a fantastic job.
“Of course, it will be a mighty tough group we are going into, but as far as I was aware this was a mighty tough group we were in already. The next group will obviously be slightly tougher, but there is no reason to fear any teams in the group.
“The tournament is going to be tough, its going to be good and exciting and we will go into every game full of hope and belief that we can win more games of cricket.”
Scotland got off to the perfect start with a couple of quick early wickets. Aqib Ilyas (37) and Mohammad Nadeem (25) delivered some lusty blows before falling to spinners Michael Leask and Mark Watt.
Omani skipper Zeeshan Maqsood earned a reprieve after holing out to Chris Greaves, only for it to be brought back for a waist-high no-ball. Sandeep Goud was then spilled by Kyle Coetzer off Safyan Sharif’s bowling but the latter got his man, as Greaves clung on to a catch in the deep.
Leask struck again and Josh Davey (3-25) came to the fore in the death overs to restrict Oman to 122 all out.
Captain Coetzer hit 41 off 28 to start the Saltires off before falling to Khawar Ali but his fellow Aberdonian Matthew Cross (26) and Richie Berrington (31) saw Scotland home.
“What a day for Scottish cricket that is,” said Aberdeen-born Davey. “You can see the boys are absolutely buzzing after that. It’s sensational really.
“It was such a great occasion to showcase your skills. I had a bit of luck with the ball going to the fielders but I’m going to take that every day of the week.
SUPER 12 HERE WE COME!!!! 👇#FollowScotland 🏴 | #PurpleLids 🟣 pic.twitter.com/jYZH1NXP5N
— Cricket Scotland (@CricketScotland) October 21, 2021
“I think there’s a belief within the side – we’re a very strong side and have got a lot of bases covered. We really think we can cause some upsets and we already have.
“Twenty20 is about momentum and hopefully we can take this momentum into the next stage. Who knows what can happen.
“There’s some fantastic teams in there and what an opportunity that is for us to play against them.”
