On Thursday, June 6, 2024, at the Kensington Oval in Barbados, Australia (AUS) defeated Oman (OMA) in a convincing fashion in the tenth match of the ICC T20 World Cup.
After winning the toss, Oman captain Aqib Ilyas chose to bowl first. After taking out Travis Head, the opening batsman, and Mitchell Marsh, the captain, respectively, Bilal Khan and Mehran Khan dealt Australia some early blows. Despite wickets falling at the other end, veteran opener David Warner looked superb as he got off to a flying start. Warner blasted six boundaries and one six at a strike rate of 109.80 while smashing 56 runs in 51 balls.
After having a bad game in the just-finished IPL 2024, Glenn Maxwell continued to play poorly at bat. After 12 overs, Australia’s scoreboard stood at 63/3, but Marcus Stoinis’ unbeaten 67 off 36 helped his side complete their innings at 164/5.
Oman lost wickets frequently, so their chase never really got going. After the powerplay, their score was 29/3. Adam Zampa, Nathan Ellis, and Mitchell Starc combined for six wickets to get Australia across the finish line. Oman ended their innings at 125/9 after 20 overs, but Marsh and Co. won the match easily by 29 runs.
1. The overall performance of Marcus Stoinis
The all-rounder significantly aided Australia’s first-place finish in the T20 World Cup 2024. In addition to his undefeated 67 runs at bat, he claimed three vital wickets with the ball. Ilyas and company paid a heavy price for his performance, as they lost their second match of the competition.
2. Bowlers from Australia performing at their peak
The Australian bowlers overwhelmed the batting team, which was inexperienced. To keep the opposition’s batsman from developing a partnership and winning the game, Starc, Ellis, Adam Zampa, and Stoinis got regular wickets.
Also read: David Warner’s T20 World Cup 2024 dressing room brain fade goes viral
The losing skipper, Aqib Ilyas, said:
Playing against a top side today was a great experience, especially following on from the Super Over last game. They played really well, but credit goes to our bowlers. Our bowlers can do really well on turning tracks and you could see one catch was messed up and then the over went for big runs. And then from there Stoinis performed. But credit to our boys, well done. [You said “don’t be overawed by this Australian side?] The thing with the media is that they don’t show the positive things we said about them, they only show the negatives.
Obviously they’re top players, we respect them as cricketers like we respect everyone, but when we come out on to the field no one is bigger than you. These wickets are tricky and it’s not easy for anyone. For the first 14-15 overs we had a good grip on the game, but one fielding mishap and the game was taken away. [Stoinis?] We might have messed up the execution a bit. He was hitting straight pretty easily, and after hitting a couple of sixes I went to my bowlers and said it wasn’t working.
Because the yorkers were not landing as the ball was hard to grip with the sweat dripping on it. So then we went with a plan to bowl slower ones, shorter and let him try and clear the longer 74 metre boundary. That worked but by then the game was going away from us.
Winning skipper Mitchell Marsh said:
Pretty close one in the end, but good to get a win first up. [Warner tempo] Everyone’s gotta play a little bit different this tournament I think. We might get few wickets that are [good for batting] but that’s the old T20 right? Someone batting through, and Davy delivered tonight. [Stoinis?] It was pretty special from him, took his time and then got going through the end of the innings.
[Starc?] Yeah just a cramp, we just took him off as a precaution but he says he’s fine. [Cob webs?] Not sure if was cob webs as much as different conditions. Things may look a little different on these sort of wickets, but I think that’s exciting. We go on to England now and hopefully that’ll be a good game with a good crowd.
POTM Marcus Stoinis said:
Yeah it was a nice start. Maybe a few cob webs for us but we’re better for it, and nice that we got the win. And nice that I got to spend some time in the middle and have a bit of a bowl. [Pitch?] Yeah we’d lost a couple of wickets, was just looking to hit the ball and along the ground at the start, just keep it simple. Soak up the conditions a little bit. [harder to face spin or seam?] Spin I guess.
Couple keeping low, couple spinning and not spinning. But with the new ball the quicks looked tough as well. [Always going to go hard after the 15th?] Not particularly. Davie and I spoke about targeting the first couple of balls of that next over and then you know, you get the first few away and you think to try and turn it into a big over.
India
