Watch cricket video highlights of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 twenty-eighth match between England vs Oman. Venue of the match will be North Sound.
With a merciless defeat of an inferior Oman, England has returned to the game after all the anxiety and uncertainty. At the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua, they destroyed their opponents for 47 runs in 80 balls, and it took them just 19 balls to chase that total down and push their problematic net run-rate far into the black. Adil Rashid was the star of an excellent four-pronged assault. Finishing with figures of 4 for 11, while Jos Buttler’s 24 not out from eight balls concluded a thrilling chase. In the unlikely event that England secures two more points against Namibia on Saturday, Scotland’s only chance of making it to the Super Eight would be to defeat Australia, who leads Group B. Even Josh Hazlewood, at his most sardonic, might recoil at the thought.
With Scotland leading by almost four points in net run-rate and the possibility of antics in the Scots’ own last match against Australia on Sunday, England came into this match needing to win and to do it fast. In light of this, Buttler elected to bowl first at the toss and stated that he wanted “to know how many runs we’re chasing”. It will soon become clear that the answer was “not many”. With their most potent arsenal of the tournament, England launched a fierce powerplay that immediately established the tone. Jofra Archer and Mark Wood each took two wickets, while the returning player probed the left-arm seam for three overs. Oman was reduced by Reece Topley to a flimsy 25 for 4, but that quickly changed to 25 for 5, as Rashid signaled his own coming with another game-changing first ball.
Topley is without a doubt the least successful English player in recent memory. Had he not injured his ankle on a boundary marker during a warm-up match in Brisbane, he may have played a significant role in the 2022 title victory. Instead, he fractured his finger when tracking well during the disastrous 50-over World Cup in India just before Christmas. However, he set the tone here with a model one-run opening over, which was, astonishingly, his first at a T20 World Cup since the tournament in India in 2016. Following that, Archer struck with his second lawful delivery, as Pratik Athavale followed up a low chance to Phil Salt at short cover with an opportunistic slap through the covers.
Aqib Ilyas sliced another low catch to Will Jacks at backward point, making it two in as many overs for Archer. Jacks clutched on with a juggle, unlike Moeen Ali at slip two balls later, who allowed a basic snick from Zeeshan Maqsood droop out of his reach. Still, it hardly mattered. Maqsood was not in the mood to follow Wood’s harsh loosener. Wood cleaned him out with a clothed draw to midwicket after he threw a return catch off the quick’s opening ball. Kashyap Prajapati also had no answer to a dose of raw pace, as he smashed a six over the short cover boundary to hurt Topley’s numbers.
Rashid was the ideal tool to take advantage of Oman’s vulnerability since the game was wide open, and he accomplished it with a relentless show of dominance. In a stunning twenty dot-balls, Shoaib Khan clubbed one boundary past point in only four consecutive overs, claimed a wicket in each. His most spectacular legbreak of the innings produced his first wicket, almost turning Khalid Kail’s unbalanced sweep sideways. Jos Buttler had so much to do with his gloves that he failed at his first attempt at stumping and only succeeded at his second attempt because of Kail’s egregious lack of game awareness.
After dropping a soft drive from Mehran Khan in Rashid’s second over, Moeen made up for it with a clean take off. Meanwhile, Wood had taken his 50th wicket in T20Is with another full-length rocket that forced an inside edge from Ayaan Khan. After a previous effort had smacked his pads, Rashid’s third delivery was a precise googly that ripped through Fayyaz Butt’s gate. When he replicated the trick with his last ball to bowl Kaleemullah for 5, Oman were 47 for 9 and sunk. Before Buttler had thought to bring in a fifth bowler, Archer returned for his last over after two balls had been bowled. He duly finished it by forcing Shoaib Khan into a heave behind square, which allowed Buttler to scoop up the resistance and track back towards fine leg.
The core figures indicated that if England won in 5.2 overs or fewer, they would be able to surpass Scotland’s NRR. As long as Phil Salt’s three-ball twelve went on, it seemed more likely that the score would end up at 1.2 overs. The opening two balls from Bilal Khan were full and inviting, and he punished them with powerful blows over wide long-off for six. But his third was pulled back half a yard, using a delicate inside-edge to smash back his off stump.
After then, things weren’t quite as intense, but it wasn’t a very difficult situation either. Will Jacks gave himself a glimpse and then struck hard down the ground off a no-ball from Kaleemullah, only to top-edge an equally fierce blow later in the over. However, Jonny Bairstow hit a four-ball out of his opening delivery over the covers, and in his next over, Buttler gave Bilal massive blows, hitting four fours and a six. After that, Bairstow hit his second four in as many balls, and the game was over.
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