Oman beat Ireland in thriller; Hasaranga sparkles in huge Sri Lanka win
Cricket
Oman beat Ireland by five wickets which Sri Lanka defeated UAE by 175 runs.
BULAWAYO (Web Desk) - After two intriguing Group A fixtures in Harare on Sunday, attention moved to Bulawayo where we saw the first blows in World Cup qualifying in Group B on Monday.
At the Queens Sports Club Sri Lanka began their campaign with a massive win over United Arab Emirates, while over at the Bulawayo Athletic Club, Oman secured a statement win over Ireland in a superb match.
Oman's victory was their first against Ireland in One Day Internationals and saw them complete their highest ever successful run chase in the format.
Sri Lanka made a strong start to the tournament as they outclassed UAE in Bulawayo.
The top order all made half-centuries to set up a big Sri Lanka total of 355/6, with some late fireworks from Charith Asalanka and Wanindu Hasaranga adding gloss to the biggest first innings score of the tournament so far.
And the quality of Sri Lanka’s spinners did the damage in the second innings, with Hasaranga removing three of the UAE’s top five and going on to take six wickets in a convincing win.
UAE won the toss and elected to bowl in Bulawayo, with the match the first men's ODI between the teams in almost 15 years.
The Emiratis left out Junaid Siddique, opting for Zahoor Khan, Muhammad Jawadullah and the extra pace option of revelation Ali Naseer. Sri Lanka on the other side did not serve up any surprises, although Dushmantha Chameera was missing with a pectoral issue. The team welcomed Dimuth Karunaratne back into the ODI batting line-up.
Put in to bat first, the returning Karunaratne showed why Sri Lanka decided to bring him back into the ODI setup after a two-year gap ahead of the Qualifier. In conditions that had a bit of movement on offer for the pacers, Karunaratne's solid technique came in handy as he gathered boundaries – a total of six in the Powerplay – at ease.
At the other end Pathum Nissanka struggled to get runs flowing from his bat. However, the initial grind paid off after Nissanka struck back-to-back boundaries off Muhammad Jawadullah in the fifth over to get his innings going.
The openers kept the scoreboard ticking and, in the process, Karunaratne brought up his third consecutive fifty but fell in the very next over. The opening pair added 95 runs for the first wicket, successfully negotiating that early period where conditions most favour the bowlers.
Joining hands with Kusal Mendis to build on the foundation, Nissanka too reached the 50-run landmark as Sri Lanka were coasting at 133/1 at the halfway stage of their innings.
Scoring accelerated dramatically through the second half of the innings.
Mendis hit ten fours in his classy 63-ball 78, and his 105-run partnership with Sadeera Samarawickrama fired Sri Lanka towards a big target.
Mendis holed out to the substitute fielder off Ali Naseer, and Samarawickrama was run out on 73 from 64 balls to give UAE hope of restricting the scoring in the final six overs.
But Asalanka had other ideas, unleashing boundary after boundary in a brilliant display of finishing as he struck 48* off just 23 balls. And Wanindu Hasaranga (23* off 12) hit three boundaries in the final over to help post a score of 355/6 that will test UAE to the limit.
The young Naseer justified his pick with standout figures of 2/44 off ten overs – comfortably the best on show.
UAE’s reply got off to a steady start until Lahiru Kumara pulled off a smart caught and bowled to remove open Rohan Mustafa for 12.
But the brilliance of Hasaranga was on full show as he picked up three wickets in the space of two overs, removing Muhammad Waseem (39), Basil Hameed (0) and Asif Khan (8) to put Sri Lanka in complete control.
Some tidy contributions ensured it was a respectable effort with the bat from UAE, with Vriitya Aravind matching his captain’s top score of 39 before being trapped lbw by Dhananjaya de Silva.
And a decent partnership between Rameez Shahzad (26) and Naseer (34) made Sri Lanka wait for the win.
But wickets tumbled once the partnership was broken.
Maheesh Theekshana got in on the action to clean up Naseer, and the outstanding Hasaranga finished the job with two wickets in two balls as UAE were bowled out for 180 in 39 overs.
Hasaranga finished with exceptional figures of 6/24 in eight overs as the tournament favourites started their campaign in style.
Oman pulled off a superb run chase to beat Ireland at the Bulawayo Athletic Club and throw Group B wide open.
Ireland would have been confident after a flurry of lower-order runs helped them to 281/7 against Oman, with Harry Tector and George Dockrell starring with the bat after Oman won the toss and elected to bowl.
But Oman chased their target down in style, with half-centuries from Kashyap Prajapati, Aqib Ilyas and Zeeshan Maqsood breaking the back of it.
And the win came with 11 balls to spare as Mohammad Nadeem (46*), Ayaan Khan (21) and Shoaib Khan (19*) finished it off.
Andrew Balbirnie confirmed at the toss that Andy McBrine would open the batting with Paul Stirling having experimented with the idea during the warm-up encounters. Ben White was also named as an extra spinner in the team, and the side welcome back Josh Little who sat out their Test match with England. Oman largely stuck with the side that got them through the League 2 campaign.
Batting first, Andy McBrine and Paul Stirling took the attack to the Oman bowlers to set the tone early. The openers struck a boundary each in the second over that set the ball rolling for Ireland and found the boundaries with ease for most of the Powerplay.
Just when the duo looked set for a big opening partnership having just completed a 50-run stand, the short-ball ploy bright their downfall in consecutive deliveries. Stirling holed out in the deep to a pull shot while McBrine mistimed his attempt to clear the ring straight into the hands of mid-off.
The consecutive wickets halted Ireland's momentum and put the brakes on their scoring, eventually leading to the wicket of captain Andy Balbirnie whose drive only managed the outside edge into the safe hands of Naseem Khushi.
Harry Tector, the ICC Men's Player of the Month for May 2023, got going with two crisp drives. Lorcan Tucker too joined hands as the pair added quick runs in the middle overs to make up for the lull. Tucker smashed Ayaan Khan for consecutive boundaries but it was the left-arm spinner who had the last laugh with a ripper to dismiss the wicketkeeper-batter for an 18-ball 26.
With Oman using left-arm spin to keep Ireland quiet, George Dockrell decided to upset their rhythm with two boundaries off Ayaan Khan, taking Ireland to 125/4 after 25 overs.
Gareth Delany (20 off 14), Mark Adair (15 off 11) and Graham Hume (15* off 12) all scored quickly as Dockrell carried on at the other end.
And the 30-year-old finished unbeaten on 91* to help Ireland to a competitive total, with Bilal Khan and Fayyaz Butt took two wickets apiece in the pick of the figures for Oman.
Ireland kept the momentum going when Mark Adair had opener Jatinder Singh caught at second slip for one run.
But a partnership worth 94 between Ilyas and Prajapati laid the foundations for Oman.
Both batters reached their half-centuries before Ilyas departed for a 49-ball 52 to Dockrell, but the wicket didn’t derail the innings.
Prajapati and skipper Maqsood kept the runs flowing, adding 62 from the third wicket before the opener finally fell to Josh Little for an excellent 72.
And Little struck again to have Maqsood caught behind for 59 and give his team hope.
Ayaan Khan’s run-a-ball 21 was ended by Adair’s caught and bowled, but with Mohammad Nadeem firing to 46*, Oman closed in on victory.
And the winning runs came at the start of the penultimate over, with Shoaib Khan crunching a four to spark jubilant celebrations
