Australia win by 39 runs, beat Oman in the 10th match of T20 World Cup
Australia managed to score 164/5 in 20 overs after being asked to bat first. The Australians’ top-order collapse was halted by Stoinis’ knock after opener Travis Head (12) and captain Mitchell Marsh (14) failed to convert their beginnings.
Glenn Maxwell, an experienced all-rounder, was knocked for a golden duck off Mehran when Ilyas made an incredible one-handed grab that flew parallel to the ground, adding to his misery with the bat. Australia needed a comeback, having been reduced to 50/3 at one point. Stoinis and Warner put up 102 runs for the fourth wicket from 64 balls. Warner proceeded to surpass former Australia captain Aaron Finch in terms of most runs (3,120) for the nation in the shortest format with a careful effort that saw him hit six fours and one six.
It took the left-handed Warner 104 matches for Australia to accomplish the feat. However, Stoinis was the more aggressive of the two, scoring 67 not out off only 36 balls while smashing two fours and six sixes. Mehran Khan grabbed 2/38 for Oman, while Kaleemullah and Bilal Khan both claimed one wicket. With a meagre but excellent 4-0-18-0 period, Ilyas was followed closely by Shakeel Ahmed, who finished with a 4-0-28-0 performance.
Even though a 39-run lead isn’t seen to be significant enough for T20 cricket these days, Oman was no match for Australia. But if Ayaan Khan hadn’t stumbled and hit the ropes after capturing Marcus Stoinis in the fifteenth over, it may have been. Australia was struggling at that time, having only scored 37 in the Powerplay and lacking the impetus to go through the middle overs. At 82/3. But spurred on by that ill-advised catch, Stoinis struck three more sixes in that over to turn the tide. After adding 26 runs, Australia didn’t need to turn around.
When skipper Mitchell Marsh and Glenn Maxwell fell in quick succession in the ninth over, Australia was 50-3. Marcus Stoinis, however, took advantage of being dropped at seven, eleven, and sixty-five to club 67 not out from 35 balls and take his team to 164-5. David Warner, who opened the 56-run opening stand in what is likely to be his final World Cup, shared a stand of 102 with him. Mitchell Starc hit a wicket in the opening over, and after Stoinis took 3-19 in the chase, Oman, who had lost their opening game to Namibia in a super over, ended up on 125-9. Australia had cause for concern that night, though, when Starc left the pitch after only one ball in his final over.
On a slow Bridgetown ground, David Warner also contributed by playing second fiddle with a 51-ball 56, helping Australia surpass Oman in the last overs of their innings with 102 runs for the fourth wicket. After that, Stoinis came back to take 3/19 and lead Australia to a convincing victory.
Mitchell Marsh: “Pretty close one in the end, but good to get a win first up. Everyone’s gotta play a little bit different this tournament I think. We might get few wickets that are but that’s the old T20 right? Someone batting through, and Davy delivered tonight. It was pretty special from him, took his time and then got going through the end of the innings. Yeah just a cramp, we just took him off as a precaution but he says he’s fine. Not sure if was cob webs as much as different conditions. Things may look a little different on these sort of wickets, but I think that’s exciting. We go on to England now and hopefully that’ll be a good game with a good crowd.”
Alibi Ilyas: “Playing against a top side today was a great experience, especially following on from the Super Over last game. They played really well, but credit goes to our bowlers. Our bowlers can do really well on turning tracks and you could see one catch was messed up and then the over went for big runs. And then from there Stoinis performed. But credit to our boys, well done. The thing with the media is that they don’t show the positive things we said about them, they only show the negatives. Obviously they’re top players, we respect them as cricketers like we respect everyone, but when we come out on to the field no one is bigger than you. These wickets are tricky and it’s not easy for anyone. For the first 14-15 overs we had a good grip on the game, but one fielding mishap and the game was taken away. We might have messed up the execution a bit. He was hitting straight pretty easily, and after hitting a couple of sixes I went to my bowlers and said it wasn’t working. Because the yorkers were not landing as the ball was hard to grip with the sweat dripping on it. So then we went with a plan to bowl slower ones, shorter and let him try and clear the longer 74 metre boundary. That worked but by then the game was going away from us.”
Marcus Stoinis is Player of the Match: “Yeah it was a nice start. Maybe a few cob webs for us but we’re better for it, and nice that we got the win. And nice that I got to spend some time in the middle and have a bit of a bowl. Yeah we’d lost a couple of wickets, was just looking to hit the ball and along the ground at the start, just keep it simple. Soak up the conditions a little bit. Spin I guess. Couple keeping low, couple spinning and not spinning. But with the new ball the quicks looked tough as well. Not particularly. Davie and I spoke about targeting the first couple of balls of that next over and then you know, you get the first few away and you think to try and turn it into a big over.”
