Shepherd takes hat-trick as Windies beat Scotland
Romario Shepherd (L) celebrates with Shimron Hetmyer (R) after taking the hat trick
Kolkata, India, AFP: Pace bowler Romario Shepherd took the first hat-trick of the 2026 T20 World Cup on Saturday to help the West Indies blow away Scotland’s tail and win by 35 runs in their Group C opener in Kolkata.
Shepherd grabbed four wickets in five balls in the 17th over to put an end to Scotland’s hopes of chasing their target of 183. Shimron Hetmyer’s 36-ball 64 at Eden Gardens earlier propelled the West Indies to 182-5 in their 20 overs.
The Scots, who only received a call-up two weeks ago to replace Bangladesh, were threatening a famous victory at 114-3 at the end of the 13th over, with big-hitting captain Richie Berrington and Tom Bruce at the crease. A 78-run fourth-wicket partnership between Berrington, who made 42, and Tom Bruce (35) had put them back in the hunt.
But strikes by Jason Holder and then Shepherd’s burst saw Scotland bowled out for 147. Shepherd removed Matthew Cross, for 11, Michael Leask and Oliver Davidson and celebrated wildly before ending with an impressive 5-20 from his three overs. Holder finished with figures of 3-30 in 3.5 overs as he wrapped up the Scotland innings in 18.5 overs.
The Scots won the toss and elected to field and initially had the West Indies on the back foot with some disciplined bowling. Opener Brandon King made 35 as he cut loose in the seventh over to hit pace bowler Safyaan Sharif for a six and two fours off successive balls.
Scotland rotated their bowlers and Leask struck the first blow with his off-spin as he bowled skipper Shai Hope for 19. King was out next, falling to debutant left-arm spinner Davidson caught at backward point for his maiden T20 wicket.
| Scoreboard | |
| West Indies Brandon King c Munsey b Davidson 35 Shai Hope b Leask 19 Shimron Hetmyer c McMullen b Sharif 64 Rovman Powell c Jones b Currie 24 Sherfane Rutherford c Jones b Currie 26 Romario Shepherd not out 06 Matthew Forde not out 01 Extras (b1, lb2, w4) 07 Total (5 wickets; 20 overs) 182 Did not bat: Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Shamar Joseph, Gudakesh Motie Fall of wickets: 1-54 (Hope, 8.2ov), 2-58 (King, 9.2ov), 3-139 (Powell, 15.3ov), 4-175 (Hetmyer, 18.6ov), 5-175 (Rutherford, 19.1ov) Bowling: Brandon McMullen 1-0-7-0, Brad Currie 4-0-23-2, Mark Watt 4-0-38-0, Safyaan Sharif 4-0-46-1, Oliver Davidson 3-0-23-1, Michael Leask 4-0-42-1 Scotland George Munsey c Hetmyer b Joseph 19 Michael Jones c Rutherford b Holder 01 Brandon McMullen b Shepherd 14 Richie Berrington c Joseph b Holder 42 Tom Bruce lbw b Motie 35 Matthew Cross c Rutherford b Shepherd 11 Mark Watt c Powell b Holder 15 Michael Leask c Powell b Shepherd 00 Oliver Davidson b Shepherd 00 Safyaan Sharif c Holder b Shepherd 00 Bard Currie not out 02 Extras (lb1, nb1, w6) 08 Total (all out; 18.5 overs) 147 Fall of wickets: 1-7 (Jones, 1.2ov), 2-31 (McMullen, 4.3ov), 3-37 (Munsey, 5.4ov), 4-115 (Berrington, 13.2ov), 5-122 (Bruce, 14.3ov), 6-133 (Cross, 16.2ov), 7-133 (Leask, 16.3ov), 8-133 (Davidson, 16.4ov), 9-133 (Sharif, 16.6ov), 10-147 (Watt, 18.5ov) Bowling: Matthew Forde 2-0-15-0, Jason Holder 3.5-0-30-3, Romario Shepherd 3-0-20-5, Shamar Joseph 4-0-26-1, Gudakesh Motie 4-0-29-1, Akeal Hosein 2-0-26-0 |