Coetzer hails Scotland’s ‘great day’ against Sri Lanka

Kyle Coetzer

Scotland opening batsman Kyle Coetzer hailed his national side’s “great day” after they beat Sri Lanka by seven wickets in Beckenham on Sunday.

Sri Lanka batted first and posted 287 all out with Alasdair Evans and Stuart Whittingham, who both took three wickets, doing most of the damage for the Scots with the ball.

The European team got off to a fantastic start with the bat as Coetzer (118) and his opening partner Matthew Cross (106 not out) scored centuries in a partnership of 201 for the first wicket.

The Associate side eventually won with more than seven overs to spare and even though the game was not an official ODI, it was still Scotland’s first win against a Full Member nation.

The last time the teams met, Sri Lanka thumped Scotland by 148 runs at the 2015 World Cup in Australia.

Coetzer told the Cricket Scotland website after the game: “It’s been a great day.

“Firstly the sun was shining and we played a great game of cricket, particularly to restrict them to less than 300 which was an outstanding performance.

“It was one of those days, if it goes your way you have just got to keep riding that wave.

“Quite often in the past we would have gone into our shell and not felt that we were up to the task, but out there trying to put them on the back-foot most certainly showed we were up for the task.

“I am pleased for the guys out there to get that historic win.”

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