Friday 19 / April / 2024
Muscat: Scotland won the Oman Quadrangular Series by beating the hosts by seven wickets in Al Amerat yesterday.
Mark Watt and Adrian Neill took three wickets each as Oman were bowled out for 111 inside the final over of their innings.
Scotland comfortably reached their target of 112, with Richie Berrington hitting the winning boundary. The speed of the victory allowed Scotland to claim the tournament title after overtaking the Netherlands and Ireland on net run rate with all three teams level on two wins.
After being sent in to bat, Oman experimented with their batting order by promoting Naseem Khushi to open in an effort to spark them following a sluggish start in their previous defeat to the Netherlands. But the move backfired as Khushi failed to get the ball away off the first five deliveries from Evans before a charge down the pitch resulted in Evans dragging the length back and a pull being sent to Michael Leask at deep square leg.
Wasim Ali was run out to end the second over after being caught ball-watching when Jatinder Singh pushed to mid-on for a run to make it 2 for 2.
Neill was given the ball for the first time in the fourth and struck on his second ball as Jatinder dragged a drive onto his stumps for 2, setting the stage for his Man of the Match performance. Neill claimed his second in his next over when Khurram Nawaz pulled him to George Munsey at deep square leg as Oman ended the Powerplay at 17 for 4.
Watt put his stamp on the middle overs once more as Oman captain Ajay Lalcheta top edged to Neill at short fine leg in the 10th. Sufyan Mehmood walked across his stumps trying to flick through the leg side and was given leg before in the 14th over. Watt rounded off his tournament-best seven wickets with his final ball of the day, beating Mohammad Nadeem on a sweep for his second lbw decision of the day to make it 76 for 7 after 16.
Sandeep Goud brought some respectability to the Oman innings in the end.
