In hours of darkness, there’s always Michael Leask around for Scotland | ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, 2024

The night is dark and full of terrors.

If you have been around watching The Game of Thrones, you certainly know this phrase at the back of your head. The situation was quite similar for Scotland. 

The day was bright and beautiful and full of hope but as and when the night began, things began to start becoming eerie for Scotland, as though the inevitable – the White Walkers – were marching towards them. 

In this case, it wasn’t the White Walkers but the inevitable, Namibia, marching towards them. Before this clash, Scotland had never beaten Namibia despite being on the block since the inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup. 

Scotland saw how huge the associate world had become. But they also saw the development of some of the other nations, including Namibia, one of their nemesis. 

Despite blowing the lids off and restricting the African nation to just 155, Scotland were aware that they needed to tread through the run chase in a clever manner. One wrong step could put them in a despair that they can’t come out of. 

When Michael Jones went back packing, Scotland were in a state of bother. 49/2 quickly turned into 67/3 when Zane Green’s athleticism removed Brandon McMullen. At 73/4, that ray of hope was diminishing as quickly as the sun was heading down at Bridgetown. 

But Richie Berrington’s experience was like that sun, still fighting its way not to go down as quickly. At the other end was another of Scotland’s veterans – Michael Leask. Leask’s reputation around the block was quite notorious, he surely knows how to smother a ball into the wilderness but, at the same time, has a bit of inconsistency going around his game. 

No one really knew which version of Leask was about to be unleashed. 

Across his last seven appearances, including the warm-up clash against Afghanistan, Leask had only crossed the 30-run mark once, which was quite a concerning one for Scotland. His lean patch was almost like Scotland’s luck at the global events, they are almost there but one or the other thing has its last say over the proceedings to deny them of glory. 

Namibia’s bowling was at full throttle. They saw the opportunity and most definitely conquered it. With 78 off 48, the game was right in Namibia’s alley, and that’s when they were undone by a partnership that was part sizzling, part mercurial. 

Berrington punched hard. Leask rebounded. 

In between punching hard and tonking long, they ran, having hit the ball to different pockets where the Namibian fielders were too late to attack. Once complacency crept in, Leask smelt blood and cashed in, starting with two sixes off David Weise’s bowling, which took the required margin from 40 off 24 to 21 off 18, almost run-a-ball. 

With every hit, Leask grew in stature, almost like the Loch Ness Monster that has perpetually haunted the kids as they grew up. The Leask-Ness monster wasn’t satisfied with two sixes either, it wanted another one, a huge one this time around, absolutely piledriven into the space for a 101 metre six. 

Four sixes? Scotland record? Leask it! 

While the monstrous act came to an end after a 17-ball 35, Leask’s heroics may go down in the history books as Scotland came inches closer to defeating their nemesis, Namibia. 

Berrington, who happily played the second fiddle, applied finishing touches to the chase with a Leask-like six of his own. In hours of darkness, there is always a Leask around the corner for Scotland, and for Namibia, that Leask-Ness monster haunted them. 

Even if the International Cricket Council (ICC) wanted to script a day as iconic as June 6th, they would require some writers with gazillion mints attached like a strip beneath the bottom side of their tongues. 

First, the United States of America beat Pakistan, and later, Scotland ended its losing streak against Namibia. If that’s not screaming that associate cricket belongs at the highest level, then we may all be tuned in to a different dystopian world.

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