Scotland are out of the World Cup after a six-wicket defeat to Bangladesh. It was the Scots' fourth loss of the tournament and means they cannot now qualify from Pool A for the knockout phases.
Worryingly for the men in blue, they still have to play Australia and Sri Lanka, and on the evidence of their displays so far this could result in resounding defeats.
Not that the Scots went down tamely to Bangladesh in Nelson. Their batsmen did their job, compiling an impressive 318 for the loss of eight wickets in their 50 overs, with Kyle Coetzer scoring Scotland's first World Cup century.
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His record innings included 17 fours and four sixes, and he said later of his 156: "It's been nice to score a few runs but at the end of the day it's the result of the game – and that's disappointing today."
Though Coetzer received valuable assistance during his 134-ball innings from captain Preston Mommsen (39 runs in 38 balls) and Matt Machan (35 in 50 balls), the final score of 318 proved too easy for Bangladesh because of the weak Scottish bowling attack.
Seamer Josh Davey got an early breakthrough with the wicket of Soumya Sarkar when the Bangladesh score was just five, but Tamim Iqbal and Mohammad Mahmudullah then put on a stand of 139 for the second wicket. Iqbal was finally dismissed five runs short of what would have been a maiden World Cup century for a Bangladesh batsman, but quick-fire knocks from Mushfiqur Rahim (60 from 42 balls) and Shakib Al Hasan (52 from 41 balls) saw their side home with six wickets and 11 balls to spare.
"It was tough to take," said a dejected Mommsen. "We did a lot of things right but we couldn't put the full package together. We were happy with 318 but we knew it was still a good wicket. We couldn't create enough chances to take 10 wickets out there."
Nonetheless the Scotland captain recognised the magnitude of Coetzer's Man of the Match contribution, declaring: "It was a huge moment for Kyle Coetzer and for Scotland… hopefully people back home are very proud."
The victory moves Bangladesh up into fourth place in group A. Having killed off Scotland's chances of qualifying for the knockout phase, it could yet inflict a mortal blow to England's World Cup hopes.
The English are fifth in the group, three points behind Bangladesh, and the two sides meet on Monday in Adelaide in a game that England must win to remain in the tournament. "It will be difficult against England but we will do our best," promised Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza. "We still have two chances [to qualify] so if we can't beat England, we'll try to beat New Zealand."
