Oman bounced back in super-quick fashion from their record-breaking defeat to Scotland in the first of their three List A matches in this series to claim a morale-boosting 93-run win in match two at Al Amarat, writes SIMON LEWIS.
Having been bowled out for the fourth-lowest score in List A cricket history (24 runs in under 18 overs – the lowest List A score by a national team) on Tuesday, Oman regrouped for the second List A match as openers Jatinder Singh (30 off 44 balls) and Twinkal Bhandari (15 off 16) added 32 for the first over in less than five overs.
Captain Khawar Ali (44 off 86 balls) added 38 for the second wicket with Singh and a further 65 with Mohammad Nadeem (64 off 83 balls). With their confidence high and the Scotland bowlers flagging, 33-year-old Khurram Nawaz (playing in only his second List A match) slashed five sixes in his blitz-fire innings of 64 off 45 balls (3×4, 5×6, S/R 142.22) before he was run out off the second-last ball of the innings.
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Safyaan Sharif was the pick of the bowlers with 3-60 off his 10 overs (econ 6.00), while List A debutant Hamza Tahir was the most economical with the ball, returning figures of 9-0-31-0 (econ 3.44).
Scotland got off to a bad start to their innings, losing both openers with the score on 11, and although Richie Berrington (37 off 56), George Munsey (34 off 33) and Mark Watt (36 off 33) all made starts, the Oman bowlers kept the upper hand over their visitors.
Mohammad Nadeem picked up the last three wickets (all bowled) in the 40th over, two off the first two balls of the over, and the third off the last ball of the over to seal the 93-run win.
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Having enjoyed no luck with the ball in the first match of the series (Scotland won by 10 wickets), in the second match Bilal Khan (2-16), Kaleemullah (2-23), Mohammad Nadeem (3-38) and Badal Singh (3-25) were able to share in Scottish wickets to put Oman in the right frame of mind for the deciding match of the series on Friday.
KZN Inland coach Shane Burger will be taking up his role as head coach of Scotland in March at an exciting time in the country’s cricketing development.
Photo: Tom Dulat/Getty Images
