Maisie Maceira of Scotland made a small piece of history against Nepal with her five-fer.
It was Scotland’s first group stage victory in two tournament editions, and it was also the first five-wicket haul of the ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup 2025.
Pippa Sproul and Gabrielle Fontenla’s shaky batting made Maceira’s bowling exploits worthwhile, even though a loss to Australia might have been followed by a close loss to Nepal.
By bowling Nepal out for 73 after taking five for 15, Maceira, a right-arm seamer, had set up Scotland’s triumph. She utilised her variations to devastating effect.
“It is unbelievable, I never imagined it would happen, but it was amazing to have everyone’s support, so I really just had to be here with the team,” the 19-year-old remarked.
“I have a few variants, but today I just utilised back-of-the-hand balls and a couple cutters.
“I thought I would incorporate them into my bowling technique, and it worked pretty well. I have been using them in training sessions.”
It was very amazing that I was able to pull it off, but I knew that the crew was on my side and supporting me, so I figured I could use every variation I knew how to employ, and it seemed to work perfectly.
“We noticed that slower balls were working pretty hard, so I thought I would add some slower balls to try to fool them a little bit in addition to spin.”
The more wickets Nepal took, the more dot balls they were able to keep Scotland in check.
Scotland was in a solid position when Pippa Sproul played a calm innings of 35 from 47, but Maceira’s dismissal for two left Scotland requiring 16 runs with one wicket left.
Despite their nervousness, Kirsty McColl and Gabrielle Fontenla cleverly got Scotland home with eight balls remaining.
Even if they only need one wicket, we have excellent hitters at the finish of the order, so we support one other,” Maceira continued. “It was crazy.”
As much as I am happy of myself, I am also proud of the squad since it is a team game.
We have made great progress; two days ago, we gave it our all against Australia, but we were not successful despite our best efforts.
“You can see our efforts today, and while it was a great experience to be able to rush out on the pitch and celebrate with the squad, it was also an incredible feeling in the dugout.
“All we were doing back in the dugout was telling each other that each ball just needed to be hit for one run.
“We wanted to stay cool and calm, and I believe we did that. There wasn’t much we needed, so we didn’t want to go out there and smack it.”
Bangladesh, who have already won one and lost one, will play Scotland to close up the group stages.
Scotland‘s first Super Six appearance would be certain with a victory on Wednesday, but a defeat would still be sufficient if table-toppers Australia defeat Nepal.
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