In Harare, West Indies defeated Oman with comfort by seven wickets thanks to a focused bowling effort and a century from Brandon King. Prior to Oman being weighed down by the spinners and never being able to progress past third gear, Kyle Mayers and Romario Shepherd were the bowlers of choice.
The West Indies had no issue controlling the tempo of the game as they chased a below-par 222. King and Shai Hope, who added another half-century, guided their team to their first victory in the Super Six phases of the World Cup Qualifier, and they did so with more than ten overs to spare.
This game lacked the passion of many others because both teams had already been eliminated, and it was obvious in front of a nearly empty Harare crowd. Shepherd and Mayers perforated Oman early while Jatinder Singh and skipper Aqib Ilyas fell easily. However, Oman’s innings featured three run-outs and a pattern of self-destruction. As a result of Roston Chase capitalizing on poor decision-making, Kashyap Prajapati was the first to be eliminated in that way.
After Oman’s intent was absent during the middle overs, Akeal Hosein, Roston Chase, and Kevin Sinclair grabbed control of them and quickly batted them through as the run rate dropped. As shown by the assault of dot balls in the middle overs, unexpected aggressive outbursts weren’t consistently followed by an effective rotation of strikes.
Oman was in danger of losing early as three quick wickets fell through the middle overs, but Shoaib Khan and Suraj Kumar’s tenacious resistance saved them.
They were able to cross the 200-run mark thanks to an 85-run stand, but the dreaded run-out soon followed. Suraj declined Shoaib’s request for a single from the non-striker’s end, and West Indies was more than glad to send Shoaib on his way. After that, the innings ended quickly as Oman struggled to 221.
There was no tournament-related pressure, and there was also no pressure from the scoreboard. Oman did deal a blow to the West Indies early on when a magnificent indipper from Kaleemullah uprooted two of Johnson Charles’ stumps, but West Indies eased their way through the remainder of the opening powerplay.
While Keacy Carty was exhausted, King had already found his rhythm and was finding runs to be more and more straightforward. Oman had few replies as they easily navigated the goal as he teamed up with the team’s greatest hitter, Hope.
There isn’t much to celebrate for the West Indies in this tournament, but King was still able to reach his second hundred as the finish line got closer. However, Bilal Khan had him nick off two balls later, and by then Hope had also reached his half-century, thus West Indies was advancing quickly toward the finish line.
He would not, however, be able to complete the game. West Indies won with a victory that won’t mean much but was expertly accomplished because of Nicholas Pooran’s unbeaten 24-ball 19-ball performance.
West Indies 222 for 3 (King 100, Hope 63*, Kaleemullah 1-49) beat Oman 221 for 9 (Suraj 53, Shoaib 50, Shepherd 3-44) by seven wickets