North Sound, Antigua: It was a cricketing lesson that defending champions England gave Oman in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua on Thursday afternoon.
England went into the game with not only a must win situation but also were eyeing a health net run-rate (NRR) with Scotland ahead on points and NRR.
The champions showcased their best performance in the tournament to outclass Oman, who were playing against the giants for the first time.
With one of the fastest quicks in their pace attack, England unleased the trio of Reece Topley, Jofra Archer and Mark Wood and if that was not enough, Adil Rashid weaved around his magical spin web to send Oman crashing to 47 all out, their lowest ever World Cup and T20I total in their history.
England raced to win with an eye of boosting their NRR and completed the chase in just 3.1 overs.
Oman captain Ilyas hardly had any defence to such a dismal display and called it “a total collapse.”
In his post-match press conference, Ilyas said: "We couldn't do well in the batting, it was a big collapse. We got a real big exposure. Overall, we couldn't do much. Our batters failed throughout the tournament. Today’s game, having been bowled out for just 47, we did not have any chance.”
However, Ilyas, said that his team had “many positives to take back” and hoped that this experience of playing in sporting pitches and against world-class Test playing nations will only help “the team get better and better.”
“When you are playing top bowlers, who are sending down deliveries at a speed of 140-145kmph, once a year or even more, there is a lot going in mind of Associate batters. We need to learn from how these top professional teams plan and execute them on the field,” he added.
On today’s batting performance, Ilyas said: “The pitch was good to bat but our batters played rash shots. They were more under pressure playing against a top side. A lot of them had a bad shot selection. We should have tackled the opening bowlers in a more tactical manner and played them out. We suffered more due to batting failures. Our bowlers did really well and that is a big positive we take back.”
Ilyas added: "We can learn a lot from the top players on how things work and how we can get better. When you come across such top players you get to learn and know where you stand. If you want to bring an impact, you have to work on yourself a lot."
The all-rounder said: “Hats off to them [England] for putting pressure on the bowlers. They had to go for run rate. We have learned a lot, how we can get better. We competed in some areas. But that is not enough at this level."
Oman's tally of just 47 is the fourth-lowest total a team has managed in a T20 World Cup match, while it also proved to be England's best bowling performance in the competition. With 101 balls remaining following England's successful chase, they set a new World Cup record.
England's captain Jos Buttler said: "Thought the tone was set by the bowlers. The early wickets helped us restrict them. It is a job done today, but we another game [vs Namibia] in two days' time. We bowled brilliantly. We have another huge match to come. We can only control what we do, all focus is on that."
The pick of England bowlers, Adil Rashid, who returned with a spell of 4/11, said: “Our primary aim was to win but once we got them under 50, we knew we could play positive cricket and boost our NRR. It was good to have such a comprehensive win.”
PHOTO CAPTION: Oman skipper Aqib Ilyas at the post-match conference after the rout at the hands of England in Antigua on Thursday
