Scotland captain Kyle Coetzer wants more opportunities for the players from Associate Nations after his team defeated Bangladesh in the qualifying round in Oman. Scotland stunned the 6th ranked team by 6 runs in their T20 World Cup opener.
After being sent to bat, Scotland were 51 for 6 at one stage but Chris Greaves 45 off just 28 balls took the team to 140 in 20 overs. Chasing 141 to win, Bangladesh could manage 134 for 7 in 20 overs.
Chris Graves was the star with the ball too as he dismissed Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim just when the two were taking the game away from Scotland.
Shedding light on Chris Greaves’ career, captain Coetzer said the 31-year-old has made a lot of sacrifices to play for the national team.
“I am really proud of Greaves. e really sacrificed a lot. He was delivering parcels for Amazon not too long ago, and now is getting Player of the Match against Bangladesh. I am not sure if he will appreciate me saying this,” Coetzer said.
“Seeing the performance from Mark Watt and Chris Greaves with the bat today, they are lesser-known people who had to make many sacrifices to get to where they are today,” he added.
“Greaves isn’t a contracted player in Scotland. He was on the fringes. He put his hand up, worked extremely hard and put himself in the picture. Going back a month, he wouldn’t even start in one of these games. Look at what he has done.
“It is just proof in the pudding that there are some quality players around Associate cricket. They just need the platform to show it,” the skipper said.