None of the 4,000 or so supporters who crammed into the Grange in Edinburgh or climbed trees outside its walls to glimpse a view will ever forget the day that Scotland sent England, the world’s No1 ODI team, homeward tae think again.
In years to come the number who claim to have been present when Kyle Coetzer’s side inflicted a thrilling six-run defeat on the Auld Enemy will doubtless swell too – perhaps to that which watched the Rolling Stones at Murrayfield the night before – such was the magnitude of this win for an associate nation with dreams of one day joining the top table.
They will speak of Calum MacLeod’s astonishing 140 from 94 balls that powered a record total of 371 for five and they will reminisce about a tigerish display in the field that led to England being somehow bowled out for 365 in 48.5 overs on a flat one. Put simply: they will remember the greatest day in Scottish cricket’s history.
Few could deny them their moment in the sun. This is the team who have been left most aggrieved by the International Cricket Council’s decision to chop next summer’s World Cup to 10 teams and, in humbling their neighbours here, they have offered the perfect response.
Coetzer spoke before the game of needing one or two players to come off to have a chance of beating the English but, though MacLeod will hog the headlines and the spinner Mark Watt picked up three for 55, this was a team performance right through to the thrilling end when Safyaan Sharif trapped the No11, Mark Wood, in front.
For England it will perhaps provide a wake-up call before their series with Australia that begins on Wednesday – and not least for a bowling attack who, when faced with a flat pitch and without Ben Stokes offering an extra option, were unable to contain their opponents.
There will be less fretting about the batting, despite the collapse that followed. Indeed Jonny Bairstow appeared to have calmed the situation down early in the chase, unleashing an assault of 12 fours and six sixes on the Scottish bowlers to become the first England batsman to record three one-day centuries in a row and needing only 54 balls to do so. And though Jason Roy had already departed for 34, and Bairstow became the second man to fall when slogging the medium pace of Richie Berrington to long-off on 105, at 220 for two in the 27th over they had looked set to finish an albeit sizeable task with minimal fuss.
What followed was something that Alex Hales, in particular, will rue. That the right-hander was culpable for the ill-judged single that led to Joe Root being run out for 29 was bad enough – a professional lip-reader was not required for the Test captain’s verdict – but to follow it up by chopping the very next ball, a long hop from Berrington, to point on 52 was appalling.
With two fresh batsmen at the crease, Scotland suddenly believed. And sure enough this surge of energy paid off as Morgan, Sam Billings and David Willey all fell in quick succession – Alasdair Evans claiming two – to see the visitors in a full-blown crisis at 276 for seven in the 37th over.
Moeen Ali and Liam Plunkett appeared to have applied the balm, compiling 71 from nine overs, only for the former to pick out long-on on 46 when attempting a fourth six, before Adil Rashid’s run out and the demise of Wood prompted a joyous pitch invasion.
It was clear from the moment they bellowed out Flower of Scotland at the anthems that Coetzer’s men were up for this, with the captain and Matthew Cross then setting the template with an opening stand of 103 from 13.4 overs that was not high-risk but rather calculated attack, knowing the pitch was true, the outfield fast and the boundaries short.
No Stokes meant Morgan had only five frontline bowlers and, with minimal swing and a review burned early, the signs were ominous. And though the departure of the openers could have sent shockwaves through the old pavilion – Coetzer feathering Rashid behind for 58 and Cross giving Billings a second catch off Plunkett for 48 – instead MacLeod and Berrington rebuilt handsomely.
The latter profited from the one English blooper in the field on two, when Root grassed a low chance at slip off Rashid, but soon recovered to pump the bowler back over his head for six and then ably supported MacLeod, who used the formula that enabled him to take apart Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan in March by sweeping the spinners to distraction – not least when his first slogged six brought up a fine half-century from 36 balls.
MacLeod’s main support came through George Munsey who, after Berrington was caught at mid-off on 39 to break a stand of 93 runs, proved particularly adept at the reverse sweep en route to a 49-ball half-century. The left-hander top-edging of the shot’s orthodox equivalent to short fine-leg on 55 may have handed Rashid a second victim but by this stage Scotland were 307 for four in the 44th over and targeting a monster total.
MacLeod made it so. The scampered two that brought up three figures may have been understated but the Glaswegian’s celebration and the ensuing assault that took Scotland to the highest score by an associate nation was anything but, using his crease superbly to flay the “death” bowlers to all parts before walking off to a standing ovation from all in the ground.
Among them, commentating for Test Match Special, was James Anderson. As well as confirming he will miss the next six weeks of cricket as he manages a chronic shoulder problem before the India Test series, the 35-year-old described England’s attack as “one-dimensional” on a flat pitch. Indeed.