Edinburgh : Scotland lost four wickets from four balls in the final over as Zimbabwe won the second Twenty20 international in Edinburgh by 10 runs.
The Scots looked in control, needing 27 runs from 18 deliveries with five wickets in hand for victory, but could not surpass the visitors’ 136-5.
Richie Berrington and Matthew Cross both made 42, while Sean Williams top scored for Zimbabwe on 60 not out.
The series is now tied at 1-1 going into Sunday’s decider at The Grange.
From the first ball of the 18th over, Cross was caught near the boundary as he attempted to add to his tally of three sixes, with fielder Luke Jongwe trapping the ball between his knees after an initial fumble. That provided a huge shift in momentum as the Scots lost their nerve in the face of some excellent death bowling.
Michael Leask was still standing as dark clouds loomed and crashed a huge six in the same over, only for Richard Ngarava to concede a mere four runs from the penultimate over.
That left Scotland requiring 13 from the last six balls but Safyaan Sharif and Leask (25) were caught from the bowling of Wellington Masakadza, while Mark Watt and Ali Evans were run out in a desperately dishevelled finale.
Berrington and Cross had rescued a sticky situation for the hosts, who made 11 from the first over of their innings, only to find themselves teetering on 16-4 as the top order misfired like it had done in Wednesday’s win by seven runs.
Zimbabwe also made a mess of the Powerplay, falling to 20-3 after three overs but excellent batting from the experienced Williams and captain Craig Ervine (30) helped them reach a total they could successfully defend.
