The day Scotland halted juggernaut England

GARY HEATLY: On a day when Scotland had 11 heroes, the sight of Safyaan Sharif wheeling away in celebration will forever be an iconic moment in the cricketing fabric of a nation still eager to prove they are more than just "a match" for the big boys

Safyaan Sharif turned at his mark, two balls remained in his spell. England needed seven for victory, with one wicket in hand and eight deliveries left to face.

For any international bowler in such circumstances, it would only be natural to have a number of thoughts racing through your mind.

When you are a Scottish bowler in that moment playing against England, the No.1 side on the planet, the pace-makers of the modern 50-over game, then those thoughts are multiplied tenfold.

Thankfully for all cricket fans north of the border, the man who had the ball in his hand at The Grange in Edinburgh two years ago today was one of the coolest in the Scots’ ranks.

Sharif, the right arm seamer, made his ODI debut in 2011 and his T20I debut in 2012; he had dealt with pressure situations before.

However, with England poised on 365 for 9 chasing 372 to win, even the unflappable Sharif felt the strain.

“By that stage the atmosphere in the ground was like nothing I had ever experienced before or since in a home match for Scotland,” Sharif tells The Cricketer.

^{Scotland celebrate the wicket of Jonny Bairstow at The Grange}

“Earlier in the over we had managed to run out Adil Rashid thanks to a brilliant throw by Michael Leask which I managed to gather and then take the bails off, but a few balls later England were still in the game.

“Liam Plunkett [who finished stranded on 47 not out] had taken a single off the fourth ball of the over, so that left me bowling to Mark Wood.

“As I walked back to my mark I had a chat with our captain Kyle Coetzer and although there was so much going on around us we both stayed pretty calm and had clarity in that moment.

“We thought about maybe bowling a slower ball to see if he would try and hit a big shot and perhaps get caught out in the deep, but my best ball has always been my yorker.

“For the previous two or three overs of that spell I had been trying to get my yorkers in, but they were just falling a bit short and were quite easy to get away for the batsmen.

“I always have confidence in myself when bowling my yorker, however, and I knew that I just had to run in and put this one bang on the money.

“The ball came out of my hand perfectly and as soon as it hit Wood on the toe I was pretty sure it was out. When the lbw decision was given the first emotion was relief and then it was all a bit of a blur, everyone was running everywhere and some fans were on the pitch as we had won the game.

“Talking about it now two years on I can still remember the moment so clearly and it will live with me forever, it was such a big day for Scottish cricket and to have been a part of it all makes me very proud.”

^{Safyaan Sharif celebrated victory}

Earlier in the afternoon Sharif had been taken out of the attack after just three overs, having been on the end of the goliath strokeplay of England openers Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow.

They also hit fellow seamer Chris Sole out of the attack and by the end of the 12th over Scotland had already used six bowlers, with England accelerating to 128 without loss in their reply.

The hosts needed a wicket badly and it came thanks to left arm spinner Mark Watt when he had Roy caught and bowled for 34.

“England had really taken the reply to us and even though we had 371 on the board it looked like they might reach their victory target easily given the way Roy and Bairstow were smashing it around,” Watt says.

“When the ball to Roy left my hand I thought ‘that was quite a decent ball’, but I don’t think he played it particularly well and then all I remember is the ball taking an age to come back to me.

“It was almost as it was slow motion and I thought ‘if I drop this on live on television I will never live it down!’

“Thankfully I held onto it and it gave us all a real boost at the time, Bairstow was still there, but it just gave us a little bit of momentum which we managed to build on.”

Watt, then just 21, would go onto finish with figures of 3-55, adding the scalps of wicketkeeper Sam Billings and Moeen Ali.

"In all that went on that day, our efforts in the field don't always get the headlines, but they played a massive part"

Given the ebb and flow of this amazing game of cricket there are so many moments that can be seen as pivotal, but another that jumps out when re-watching the action 24 months on is Scotland allrounder - and ‘Mr Reliable’ - Richie Berrington getting the wicket of Bairstow.

Bairstow had steamrollered his way to 105 off just 59 balls - hitting 12 fours and six sixes in the process - and it was clear he wanted to catch the early evening flight southwards.

Berrington had other ideas. With the final ball of the 18th over Bairstow tried to hit the right-arm seamer aerially down the ground for another boundary.

“He was batting so well at the time and hitting it very sweetly, but we had been working hard on our fielding in the weeks and months heading into that game and that is when it really came into its own,” Berrington says.

“George Munsey took a good catch to help us get Bairstow out and from then on in the match our fielding was faultless.

“The guys held on to some more crucial catches further down the line when it looked as if the momentum was swinging England’s way again while there were two excellent run outs.

“I think, in all that went on that day, our efforts in the field don’t always get the headlines, but they played a massive part.”

^{England's players contemplate defeat}

Berrington ended up with figures of 2-67 while the two key wickets taken by Ali Evans - including that of England skipper Eoin Morgan - should not be forgotten.

And of course the win which sent shockwaves around the cricketing world and made others sit up and take notice of Scotland was built on a fine ‘first half’ when man of the match Calum MacLeod (140 not out), Coetzer (58), Munsey (55), wicketkeeper Matthew Cross (48) and Berrington (39) all played their part to get the hosts up to a competitive 371-5.

On a day when Scotland had 11 heroes on the pitch, the sight of Sharif wheeling away in celebration after trapping Wood lbw will forever be an iconic moment in the cricketing fabric of a small nation still eager to prove they are more than a match for the ‘big boys’.

On June 10, 2018 they certainly were.

Gary Heatly is a freelance sports writer based in Edinburgh. He has covered Scottish cricket at all levels for many years and can be found tweeting via @G_HMedia