Oli Hairs racked up Scotland’s fastest century as they eased past Italy by 155 runs to move to three from three in their T20 World Cup qualifying campaign.
The recalled opener was in devastating form as he smashed 127 not out from just 53 balls after being dropped twice in his innings, the first time when he was just on 11.
Hairs’ maiden international century came off 40 deliveries, equalling the record for the seventh fastest ton in T20 internationals anywhere, while his final score matched George Munsey’s Scotland record with the bat from four years ago.
It was all the sweeter for the 32- year-old who only recently reversed his decision to retire from international cricket.
“I just tried to ignore the scoreboard as much as possible until I got into the 90s,” said Hairs. “I tried not to overthink and just kept doing what had worked up until then. Thankfully it worked out on the day.
“I made the decision to retire at the start of the year. I’ve got a young family and work took over. But about a month ago I made a decision to make myself available again and it’s been good to be back out with the guys. It’s a nice feeling to score runs and contribute.”
Brandon McMullen came close to also reaching that milestone but was caught on 96 as Scotland finished their 20 overs on a gargantuan 245-2, just seven runs shy of their highest total posted in 2019 against the Netherlands.
Together McMullen and Hairs put together a partnership of 183, the second highest in Scottish T20I history on a day when records fell all across the board.
Italy – who had won the toss and chose to field – were realistically never going to get anywhere near that Scotland total and the wickets tumbled steadily in their reply.
Australian-born Grant Stewart was the only batter to provide any sort of resistance on his way to making 41 before he was well caught by Scotland captain Richie Berrington for the final wicket.
It was all over within 13 overs, with Italy finishing on 90, at least surpassing their lowest T20I score of 76 but still handing the Saltires their highest winning margin.
Best of the bowlers was Gavin Main who became just the third Scottish player to take five wickets in this format with his 26 for five. Safyaan Sharif and Brad Currie took two apiece with a brilliant run out from McMullen accounting for the other Italian scalp.
“I’m really pleased with that performance,” said Berrington. “After being put into bat we knew it was important on this ground to get a good score on the board. We felt we had to get up towards 200 so to get to almost 250 was an incredible effort. It was some incredibly clean striking from Oli and Brandon which made it really hard for Italy to defend and they can take huge confidence from this.
“In the second half we had some big performances there with Gavin Main getting his five-for in T20 cricket. Even with 250 on the board it was important we executed well and took our chances.
“The challenge for us now is to try to look to get better with every game. The focus is on the next game against Austria but there are a lot of positives to be taken from this performance.”
In the afternoon match, Ireland cruised to a nine-wicket victory over Jersey to replace Scotland at the top of the table. The Channel Islanders had only managed to score 78 for nine with Ireland reaching the target in just 62 balls for the loss of opener Andrew Balbirnie to claim a fourth successive victory.
