In a chaotic day filled with plenty of gaffes, both on and off the field, Monank Patel's 85 was enough to help USA overcome a near calamitous collapse and score their first win on tour in Scotland. 

Photo credit: Peter Della Penna 

By Peter Della Penna in Aberdeen (Twitter @PeterDellaPenna)
 
USA captain Monank Patel’s 85 off 98 balls earned Player of the Match honors in a chaotic one-wicket win over the UAE on Thursday at Mannofield in Aberdeen in the second ODI of the ICC Cricket World Cup League Two ODI tour of Scotland. USA needed 23 runs off 38 balls with six wickets in hand before a shocking collapse resulted in nearly throwing the game away. 
 
Gajanand Singh hit the winning runs off the first ball of the final over to clinch victory and finish unbeaten on 26 off 37 balls, though it could have been a far different story for both sides had a straightforward chest high chance on the cover boundary off the bowling of Ahmed Raza in the 47^th over not been spilled over the rope for four by Zawar Farid when Gajanand was on 10. But the left-hander survived and continued to scratch out runs in spite of the chaos happening at the opposite end, which included two runouts down the stretch as well. 
 
However, USA managed to survive and in the process secured the third highest successful chase in their limited overs history. It is also their fourth ever one-wicket victory in limited overs cricket, with the most recent instance coming against Italy at ICC World Cricket League Division Four hosted at Los Angeles in 2016.  

USA’s chase of a target of 254 got off to a positive start with a 44-run stand between Steven Taylor and Sushant Modani that was ended by Junaid Siddique, who induced a chip to midwicket by Modani for 12 to break the partnership. Taylor fell five balls later for 29 to Rohan Mustafa, playing back down the wrong line and given lbw to make it 51 for 2. 
 
Monank and vice-captain Aaron Jones then came together for a 126-run partnership that was interrupted at one point in the 15^th over by a bizarre 48-minute delay when a violent gust of wind lifted the wheeled sightscreen off the ground at the pavilion end and toppling it onto the field of play. It took close to a dozen members of the Mannofield ground staff to remove the debris from a partially destroyed section of the sightscreen and then reposition the remaining intact portion of the structure back into place behind the boundary rope before play was allowed to continue. 
 
Monank survived a testing spell from Zahoor Khan to bring up a half-century off 64 balls with a two flicked through fine leg in the 29^th over. Jones brought up his own fifty off Siddique in the 34^th with a boundary down the ground but then perished next ball hooking to Zahoor at deep fine leg for 51, sparking a testy verbal exchange with Siddique in which the umpires and several UAE players had to intervene. 
 
In a sequence of near déjà vu, Monank also fell one ball after a big shot down the ground. Having just struck Zahoor for a straight six, the captain tried to repeat the shot but Zahoor cleverly dragged the length back to induce a skied catch to Chirag Suri at mid-on, who had been kept inside the ring by Raza rather than being pushed back to the rope. 
 
Still, USA looked well on course with Ian Holland well set in the middle, having slog swept Raza over midwicket for six a short time earlier. But the allrounder was given lbw for 30 off 30 balls going for a reverse sweep against Mustafa in the 44^th over. 
 
The string of new batters to follow struggled to hold their nerve as UAE continued to ramp up pressure in the field despite the required run rate being well under a run a ball. Jaskaran Malhotra was runout for 3 by a direct hit from point by CP Rizwan after responding to a shaky call for a run by Gajanand. The left-handed Gajanand then should have been out in the following over bowled by Raza when he slammed an aerial drive out to Farid on the cover sweeper rope, but the flat chance burst through his hands before trickling over the rope. Yet the drama increased further just two balls later when Nisarg Patel was given lbw for 1 against Raza prodding forward to an arm ball that skidded on hitting him high on the back leg. 
 
USA’s growing nerves were never more evident than the dismissal of Nosthush Kenjige for the eighth wicket. Coming on strike with 10 needed off 17 balls, Kenjige soaked up three dots before attempting a slog to the deepest boundary at the venue, giving a simple catch to Muhammad Waseem 10 yards inside the rope at deep square leg for Basil Hameed’s first wicket to make it 244 for 8. 
 
Cameron Stevenson was then runout without facing a ball just three deliveries later in the 49^th after being sent back by Gajanand, who turned down a second run on a shot flicked out to deep fine leg. Stevenson had sprinted hard looking to keep Gajanand on strike, only to lose his footing and fall to the turf when trying to stop and return. It resulted in a simple removal of the bails by wicketkeeper Vriitya Aravind receiving the relay from Hameed. 
 
USA’s No. 11 Saurabh Netravalkar entered on strike as a result and took a nervy single to backward point before Gajanand decided to take a single off the next ball to mid-off, leaving Netravalkar with two balls to survive against Zahoor. Both deliveries were bowled very full, and both were blocked out. It meant Gajanand was back on strike to start the final over with two needed to win. Hameed was given the ball for the start of his sixth over, having bowled brilliantly to that point. But a short and wide delivery was pounced on and cracked through point for a boundary to end the game. 
 
Mustafa ended with UAE’s best figures of 2 for 43 in 10 overs. Siddique took 2 for 53 in nine while Zahoor, Raza and Hameed chipped in with one wicket each. 
 
The target was set up by a brilliant death spell from Netravalkar, who took 3 for 16 off his final three overs in the 46^th, 48^th and 50^th, finishing with figures of 3 for 44 in 10 overs to restrict UAE to a below par total of 253 for 8. It also spoiled what would have been a memorable winning debut for 20-year-old UAE opener Aryan Lakra, who top-scored with 84 before he was cruelly runout in a mixup with Aravind.
 
Holland took USA’s first wicket of the day when he induced a skied chip from Waseem to mid-on for 7 in the third over. Chirag Suri then pushed a simple return catch to Taylor for 7 to make it 39 for 2 in the eighth.
 
Lakra was then joined by Aravind and the pair added 111 runs across the next 29 overs. While Lakra was fluent, Aravind struggled to find his rhythm, scratching his way through his innings after surviving a missed runout chance from Kenjige on 9 in the 20^th over. It may have worked out in USA’s favor as Aravind continued to struggle and was eventually the cause of Lakra’s downfall. Lakra had just struck two fours and a six in the space of six balls off Holland and Nisarg before tapping Nisarg behind point and setting off for a single in the 37^th over. Aravind initially responded with a call of yes before turning back to the non-striker’s end, leaving Modani with a simple relay to complete to Monank to take the bails off with Lakra several yards short. It ended his innings 16 runs short of becoming only the second Associate player to score a century on ODI debut. 
 
It began a sequence of three wickets for just four runs as Aravind was bounced out by Stevenson one ball after bringing up his own half-century. Mustafa was then run out on the very next ball by a spectacular athletic effort from Stevenson off his own bowling, charging into short midwicket to deny a single to CP Rizwan before tossing a relay to Gajanand Singh at the non-striker’s end to remove Mustafa for a duck as UAE slipped from 150 for 2 to 154 for 5. 
 
Hameed and Rizwan combined for a 63-run partnership to get UAE back on course for a defendable total until Netravalkar’s death spell undid all their hard work. Hameed was bowled for 25 in the 46^th missing a scoop shot after going too far across his stumps. Rizwan had made 39 off 28 before his brisk cameo was ended slicing a catch to short third man before Farid skied a catch to Gajanand running in from long-on three balls later for 16. 
 
USA has a day off on Friday before taking on hosts Scotland at Mannofield on Saturday in their second ODI of the tour.