Saturday 20 / April / 2024
Muscat: Khawar Ali, Aaqib Ilyas and Ahmed Fayyaz Butt were the heroes of Oman’s third successive victory against United States of America (USA) as the tourists left the Sultanate with an embarrassing 3-0 whitewash at Ministry of Sports Affairs Ground I in Al Amerat on Thursday.
Oman had won the first game by 117 runs on December 4, the second by 89 runs on December 5 and the third by three wickets on December 7 to complete the clean sweep of the first international bilateral cricket series on their soil.
The series was played in great atmosphere and excellent surroundings as acknowledged by US officials.
“Thanks to Oman for being such wonderful hosts and for a great series of cricket that was played in the very best spirit by everyone,” tweeted USA Cricket on their official Twitter handle.
Pubudu Dassanayake, USA head coach, was happy with his team’s bowling and fielding through the series.
“We have a pretty strong bowling unit and despite Oman’s playing conditions that favour the batting, our bowlers were always on top and made things difficult for Oman’s batting. Our batting came good in the third game and we fought well. Overall, it was a good series for both teams and a good preparation for our next assignments,” added Dassanayake.
Invited to bat first, USA fared better in the final game, crossing the 200-run mark for the first time in the series before being dismissed for 222 in the 50th over. Solid half centuries by Roy Silva (51 off 47) and TK Patel (57 off 62) put USA back on track after they were reduced to 101 for five by the 26th over. Nisarg Patel (47 off 75) and Mrunal Patel (32 off 49) were the other notable scorers.
Ahmed Fayyaz Butt had another impressive outing for Oman, taking three wickets for 43 in 9.3 overs. Khawar Ali and Nester Dhamba bowled well too, to claim two scalps each.
Oman started off strongly, scoring 180 for three in 34 overs before a middle order collapse slowed it down considerably. The victory was finally achieved in the 47th over as Oman reached 223 for seven with 20 balls to spare. Aaqib Ilyas led the way with a run-a-ball 65, followed by Khawar’s watchful 44 off 89 and Zeeshan Maqsood’s swash-buckling 38 off just 14 balls.
Roy Silva was the most impressive of the USA bowlers, bagging three wickets for 31 while Nisarg Patel took two for 41.
Brief scores: USA 222 all out in 49.3 overs (TK Patel 57, Roy Silva 51, Nisarg Patel 47, Mrunal Patel 32; Ahmed Fayyaz Butt 3/43, Khawar Ali 2/47, Nestor Dhamba 2/52) lost to Oman 223 for 7 in 46.4 overs (Aaqib Ilyas 65, Khawar Ali 44, Zeeshan Maqsood 38; Roy Silva 3/31, Nisarg Patel 2/41).
