ICC Europe/CricketEurope

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Scotland have won their first game of this tournament, but they were run close by a much improved Danish outfit, who looked like they were going to pull off a win until the penultimate over.

Denmark won the toss and chose to bat first in cloudy conditions, with some rain in the air at VRA in Amstelveen. They started quite well, scoring at around five an over despite the loss of two early wickets.

The rain got heavier after ten overs and it forced the players from the field. The interuption lasted almost four hours, with the game being reduced to 32 overs. When we got back started Zeeshan Shah and Hamid Shah put together a great partnership of 123 before Zeeshan was out for 74.

Hamid Shah followed him soon afterwards for 48, and their partnership helped Denmark to their total of 169/5 in their 32 overs.

The Duckworth/Lewis calculations set the Scots a target of 171, and when Martin Pedersen removed both Scottish openers early on in their innings, Denmark had their eyes on a win.

But Qasim Sheikh had other ideas and he batted well, putting on 70 for the third wicket with Ewan Chalmers and 35 for the fourth wicket with Richie Berrington before he was out for 67.

Two more wickets soon afterwards had Denmark back in the driving seat, with Scotland needing 14 from the last two overs.

Then, early in the penultimate over after three runs had already been scored, Berrington launched a huge straight six out of the ground. He followed this with a four to bring the scores level, and another four to secure the four wicket win.

Scotland will play Ireland tomorrow at the same venue, whilst the Netherlands and Denmark will meet at VOC Rotterdam.