Having played the most amount of competitive cricket leading up-to Division 2 tournament, Oman are reaping the fruit-bowl of it at its fullest, being the only unbeaten side in the 6-nation competition so far, after the conclusion of the 3rd round of group stage matches in Namibia.
Hong Kong were expected to provide tough challenge and resistance to Oman’s campaign but at the end of the day, it was the other way around as Oman beat Hong Kong by relative ease by 7 wickets, chasing a below par 177 for victory in their 46th over.
Bilal Khan, with a 4-wicket haul to his name, won the player of the match award, as he scalped the prized wicket of Anshuman Rath in the 3rd over of Hong Kong’s innings. Things went even worse for them as Oman reduced Hong Kong to 47/4 inside the 20 overs mark. Ex-captain Babar Hayat and Tanwir Afzal steadied the ship somehow with a 62-runs partnership for the 5th wicket before Afzal got out to Bilal Khan.
Hayat fell shortly after making a patient 50+ score, and the rest of the batting line-up could not add much more to the total as Hong Kong were bowled out for 176 in 48 overs.
Oman openers Jatinder Singh and Khawar Ali began steadily and took their time to build the partnership of 79 runs when the first wicket fell. Jatinder and Aqib Ilyas took the score past 100, after which Jatinder completed his half-century and although both fell in quick succession, Mohammad Nadeem and Zeeshan Maqsood ensured that there were no more hiccups on the way, as Oman reached 177/3 in the 46th over to register a crucial win, that has almost guaranteed them one of the four ODI spots, if all goes well in the final two rounds of group stage matches.
Brief Scores:
Hong Kong 176 all out in 48 overs (Babar Hayat 56, Tanwir Afzal 32, Scott McKechnie 26, Bilal Khan 4/30, Khawar Ali 3/35, Kaleemullah 1/24) lost to Oman 177/3 in 45.3 overs (Jatinder Singh 65, Mohammad Nadeem 31 n.o, Khawar Ali 28, Aqib Ilyas 27, Kinchit Shah 1/25, Jhatavedh Subramanyan 1/47) by 7 wickets
