Saturday 24 / May / 2025
Muscat: June 21, turned out to be a memorable day for Oman Cricket. First, it was Oman skipper Zeeshan Maqsood reaching his career-best ranking as World No.3 ODI all-rounder. Later in the evening, a clinical Oman outplayed the UAE in Group B to record their second successive victory in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup (CWC) Qualifier 2023 at the Bulawayo Athletic Club in Zimbabwe.
Oman’s campaign at the CWC Qualifier couldn’t have got off to a better start as they made it two from two to lead the table.
In the other match of the same pool, Michael Leask held his nerve to complete a comeback for Scotland as they kicked off their campaign with a thrilling one-wicket win off the last bowl over Ireland.
For Oman, Aqib Ilyas’ second successive half-century and unbeaten fifties from Shoaib Khan and Mohammad Nadeem powered Oman to five-wicket victory with four overs to spare over the UAE to boost their hopes of making the Super Six. Two days on from the momentous chase against Ireland, Oman did it again.
In his post-match comments, Maqsood, Oman captain, said: “The way the boys are playing, we are happy. They are putting so much in all departments, our preparation’s been great, players are taking responsibility and that’s been the key.
“The way Aqib and Shoaib batted was key. Later on Ayaan and Nadeem played well. When Shoaib came off and I played a bad shot, there was pressure. But on that track, if you get set, bowlers can’t get you out. We have games against Sri Lanka and Scotland, we need to play well and carry that confidence forward.”
A fine effort with the ball, after electing to field first, put Oman in a strong position as they restricted the UAE to 227 for eight. Spinner Jay Odedra (3/31) was the star of the show with the ball, bowling Ramez Shahzad (38) and Vriitya Aravind (49) in quick succession after their 87-run stand for the third wicket. He added Ali Naseer to bring Aayan Afzal Khan to the wicket, with the 17-year-old playing with a crucial knock.
Aayan hit 10 fours on his way to an unbeaten 58 from just 52 deliveries, adding 40 with Karthik Meiyappan and 33 with Zahoor Khan.
Needing 228 to win, Oman lost both openers to Junaid Siddique (2/31), Kashyap Prajapati first to go for six with Jatinder Singh (2) soon following.
That brought Aqib and Shoaib Khan together, the pair adding exactly 100 before Rohan Mustafa got through the defences of Aqib on 53. Shoaib then left the field with cramps, before Zeeshan Maqsood was LBW to Mustafa for one as the chase started to falter.
However, a 76-run stand between Mohammad Nadeem (50 not out) and Ayaan Khan (41) steadied the ship before Shoaib returned to see the team home and bring up his half-century, finishing 52 not out.
Shoaib was named Player of the Match. He said: “It was a good toss to win. We executed our plans very nicely. The wicket was the same in both innings. Our plan was simple: to stay in as long as possible and rotate strike when spinners bowl. I had cramps. My partner Aqib gave me good support, told me to stay in the crease and that’ll take us to the win.”
Leask snatches dramatic victory for Scotland
Michael Leask hit two off the final ball as Scotland stunned Ireland with a one-wicket victory at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo.
Curtis Campher came to the crease with Ireland at 33/4 and rattled off a vital century to help Ireland post a total of 286 for eight.
That looked like plenty when Scotland slumped to 152 for seven in reply, before Leask turned the tide. Leask added 51 with Safyaan Sharif to leave Scotland needing eight from the last over. :eask took four off the first ball and then took a single. Mark Adair removed Sharif which brought last man Chris Sole to the crease. After a dot, he scrambled a bye to get Leask on strike needing two from the final delivery. An inside edge raced to the boundary to see Scotland to an unlikely victory.
Brief scores: UAE 227/8 50 overs (Aayan Afzal Khan 58*, Vritya Aravind 49; Jay Odedra 3/31, Bilal Khan 2/46) lost to Oman 228/5 in 46 overs (Aqib Ilyas 53, Shoaib Khan 52*, Mohammad Nadeem 50*; Junaid Siddique 2/31, Rohan Mustafa 2/31).
Ireland 286/8 in 50 overs (Curtis Campher 120, George Dockrell 69; Brandon McMullen 5/34, Christopher McBride 1/24) lost to Scotland 289/9 in 50 overs (Michael Leask 91*, Chris McBride 56; Mark Adair 3/57, George Dockrell 2/34). (With inputs from icc-cricket.com)
