Finn Allen scores century as Black Caps crush Scotland

At Stockbridge, Edinburgh: New Zealand 225-5 (Finn Allen 101, Martin Guptill 40, Glenn Phillips 23, Daryl Mitchell 23, Jimmy Neesham 30) beat Scotland 157-8 (George Munsey 28, Calum MacLeod 33, Chris Greaves 31; Ish Sodhi 4-28, Mitchell Santner 2-23) by 68 runs.

Black Caps opener Finn Allen scored his maiden Twenty20 century as New Zealand crushed Scotland in their international in Edinburgh on Thursday (NZT).

Allen hit 101 of 56 balls as New Zealand amassed 225-5. Ish Sodhi then took 4-28 as Scotland were restricted to 157-8, giving the Black Caps a commanding 68-run win.

Allen, who was dropped when on zero, peppered the boundary with eight fours and six sixes as he and Martin Gutpill got New Zealand off to a flyer.

They put on 85 for the opening wicket and Guptill’s 40 off 31 balls saw him become the highest run scorer in Twenty20 history with 3399 runs, surpassing Rohit Sharma’s 3379.

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Glenn Phillips (23), Daryl Mitchell (23) and Jimmy Neesham (30 off nine balls) chipped in as the New Zealand batsmen found it easy going.

Scotland made a solid start to the big run chase with openers George Munsey and Calum MacLeod getting through to 62.

But New Zealand spinners Sodhi and Mitchell Santner put the brakes on and then ran through the Scotland lineup with Santner taking 2-23 off his four overs.

The 23-year-old Allen was thrilled as he became just the fifth New Zealander to score a T20 international century.

“I’ve been working on my tempo a little bit for the last few months,” man of the match Allen said.

“For it to come off was nice. It was good to put a performance on the board for New Zealand.”

The second T20 is set for Saturday.