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Cricket

Williams’ 142 helps Zimbabwe cruise past Oman for a solid victory

In spite of a spirited effort by Oman, Zimbabwe was able to advance their chances of qualifying for the One-Day International World Cup. Kashyap Prajapati’s century and Mohammed Nadeem’s late hitting helped the Sultanate move within 15 runs of their 333-run objective. The Sultanate needed to score a total of 333 runs to win.

After winning the toss, Zeeshan Maqsood decided to bowl first and take advantage of the early assistance that the bowlers would receive. This decision was consistent with those made by every captain in the previous 20 games. And while Zimbabwe was able to go through the first powerplay without taking any damage, Oman took two wickets in quick succession in the 12th and 13th overs to create an opening. An superb innings from Sean Williams, though, helped cut the lead in half rather quickly. The solid all-rounder took the initiative to go on the offensive early on, which helped Zimbabwe gain some momentum. Williams scored a quick century, which paved the way for the home team to amass a total of 300 runs and was supported in his effort by Wessly Madhervere (23), Sikandar Raza (42), and Ryan Burl (13).

Williams was finally caught in the deep for 142 runs off 103 balls, and the score was 276/6 at that point. And with just the tail to go, Oman would have had some hope of limiting Zimbabwe’s score to less than 300. But Luke Jongwe and Richard Ngarava kept up the charge until the end of the game, bringing the score for the hosts to 332/7. The bowling performance of the Sultanate was highlighted by the 4/79 that was delivered by Fayyaz Butt. The sum appeared to be little more than expected, but in view of the remarkable chase that the Netherlands put on Monday, it was by no means inconceivable.

And after losing Jatinder Singh for only 2 runs, the Omanis got off to a strong start despite this setback. The visitors got their run chase back on track when Prajapati and Aaqib Ilyas put up an 83-run partnership just in the nick of time. Ilyas was out at the score of 45 in the end, but skipper Maqsood never gave up the pursuit. Oman’s score has always been higher than Zimbabwe’s comparison score, but the run rate has been increasing up to the point where it was 156/2 in the 31st over. And when Maqsood had to quit because of an injury after falling down while playing a sweep shot, the pressure on the pursuit increased significantly.

Prajapati maintained his assault, reaching his century in fewer than one hundred balls. It was going to take something extraordinary to eliminate the set batter because there were 12 fours and a six in the score. That something exceptional was Sikandar Raza, who ended Prajapati’s watch by making a catch while racing backwards. Oman needed 143 runs in the remaining 15 overs to win. Although Aayan Khan scored a powerful 47, it wasn’t until Mohammed Nadeem entered the game in the 43rd over that the game was able to continue. The Sultanate was able to stay in the game because to Nadeem’s 18-ball score of 30, which included four fours and a six.

Blessing Oman needed 37 runs off 17 balls when Maqsood hobbled back to the crease after Muzarabani had dismissed Fayyaz Butt for the eighth wicket. Muzarabani took his wicket. Because he was unable to run at full speed, the captain attempted to hit the ball with a swing from the hip, but neither he nor Nadeem could consistently make contact with the ball. Although Maqsood hit two fours during his at-bat, he was stumped off the final ball with Oman still on 318 runs behind and needing to score 29 runs off the final six balls.

Oman’s chances of making it to their first One-Day International World Cup are now virtually nonexistent, and they will need every other team’s results to fall in their favour in order to qualify. Zimbabwe, on the other hand, has won all three of its matches in the Super 6, and it seems probable that one more victory would be enough for them to return to the main competition.

Craig Ervine, Zimbabwe Captain: Very relieved. It was a tough game of cricket for us. When he started batting, we felt 280-290 was going to be a good score. When we started our bowling innings, we figured out the pitch was good to bat on. Thankfully Sean Williams produced a special innings to get us up to 330 (332). The wicket did seem quite a bit different to the morning. Our bowlers missed our lengths and our lines a little bit and made it easier for Oman. It is quite tough to say. You lose the toss and you get put into bat, the first 10 overs were quite touch. We thought 280 was a good score. Obviously bowling second, we have to look at around 300-320. If the wicket is going to get better, you need a little bit extra to defend that. We have been playing some really good cricket. I don’t think we need to change too much. I thought today we still did our job extremely well. Two days to bounce back before we face Sri Lanka.

Zeeshan Maqsood, Oman captain: I like to start from the start. We did not do well in the field. We dropped catches, could not stop them from running twos and singles. We gave away 30-40 runs extra. In the second half, we got an amazing start. Prajapati scored a hundred – that was a plus point for us. In the middle phase, we gave away many wickets and that is why we could not come back and win the game. It is a hamstring. I am not sure, will need to have a look. Whenever we wanted boundaries, we were getting it. We were rotating strike also nicely. If I had not gotten injured, maybe we could have changed the game.

Sean Williams, Player of the Match:  It was a pretty good wicket. Slow to start off with, difficult to hit the boundaries off the seamers in particular. Felt running between the wickets was key. Tried to take the spinners on. Bowling got difficult towards the end but credit goes to our bowlers. They bowled really well towards the end. Staying nice and calm is the most important thing. Running between the wickets is one of the most important things in cricket. It puts pressure on the bowler. The moment you show that intent, it puts pressure. When I first saw the wicket, I thought 270 would be a very good score. Thankfully everyone chipped in there and we got up to that total.

Farzeen K

Farzeen K

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