West Indies and Oman to battle at the bottom of the barrel: 2023 CWC Qualifier Super Sixes Match 7 Preview and Prediction
Cricket World Cup Qualifiers 2023 is set to culminate on July 9 with some unexpected results already taking place. Two-time T20 World Cup champions West Indies are eliminated from the World Cup 2023 following their poor show in the qualifiers. On the other hand, Oman too has been eliminated with no wins to their name in the Super Six stage so far.
The Match 7 of the Super Sixes between West Indies and Oman will be a mere formality for both nations as both of them are knocked out from the major event that will take place in India in October. Shai Hope & Co. are having a terrible Super Sixes stage with no victories in the bucket so far. They lost to Scotland in their last battle by 7 wickets after a terrible show with the bat.
On the flip, Oman lost to Zimbabwe in their previous game and is eliminated now. They will play their match against West Indies for pride and if they could beat them, it is going to be a big day for Oman. Windies are already under pressure after their bad display and Oman would like to take advantage at this stage.
What have they done so far?
West Indies are out of the competition after a poor show at the Qualifiers. They started off well in the group stage by beating the United States and Nepal by a big margin but failed to capitalize in their next three matches including a Super Six game.
Firstly, they lost their encounter with Zimbabwe by 35 runs followed by a close match against the Netherlands that ended in a tie, however, the Dutch players came out victorious in a super over. Finally, their dreams of making it to the World Cup 2023 ended after they got collapsed against Scotland in a one-sided affair.
It was a terrible start for Daren Sammy as a coach and no one would have thought that Windies would fail to qualify for the main event in India. No one apart from Nicholas Pooran and Shai Hope managed to impress with the bat as the duo scored 317 and 276 runs respectively in the event.
On the bowling front, no one showed intent and took the best out of the pitch. Collectively, it was not what the Caribbean management would have wanted in the CWC Qualifiers for their players. Earlier, they did not qualify for the previous year’s T20 World Cup and now the major event will take place without the Caribbeans.
On the other hand, Oman started their CWC Qualifiers journey quite well as they defeated Ireland and the United Arab Emirates in straight games before suffering three back-to-back defeats from Sri Lanka, Scotland and Zimbabwe.
The team from middle-east would like to spoil West Indies one more time before ending their campaign. If they would be able to achieve this, they will be satisfied with the way they perform throughout.
Head to Head Record
Both West Indies and Oman are yet to compete against one another in ODI cricket. This will be their first meeting and both nations would like to win at this stage. The duo had a tough tournament and would want to win at any stage to end the campaign on a positive note.
Key Players
Nicholas Pooran (West Indies): Nicholas Pooran has been in fine form with 317 runs in the tournament so far. He has two centuries to his name which he scored against Nepal and Netherlands. Unfortunately, the fine innings against the Dutch players went in vain as they defeated the Caribbean side in a Super Over thriller.
Nicholas Pooran has been a consistent performer for his side in the CWC Qualifiers 2023
Pooran’s good form will surely help West Indies in their match against Oman. The southpaw would look to carry forward his great touch before ending the campaign.
Bilal Khan (Oman): Bilal Khan has 13 wickets in the ongoing tournament so far in six matches which is the second highest. He has been exceptional throughout and made his side victorious on a couple of occasions. Bilal has a rich experience of 44 ODIs and 52 T20Is which has helped Oman a lot in the past few years.
The left-arm fast-medium bowler will take a lot of positives from the Qualifiers and would like to culminate the tournament on a high.
Predicted XIs
West Indies: Brandon King, Johnson Charles, Shamarh Brooks, Shai Hope ©, Nicholas Pooran, Kyle Mayers, Kevin Sinclair, Jason Holder, Romario Shepherd, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph
Oman: Kashyap Prajapati, Jatinder Singh, Aqib Ilyas ©, Sandeep Goud, Shoaib Khan, Suraj Kumar, Ayaan Khan, Mohammad Nadeem, Fayyaz Butt, Kaleemullah, Bilal Khan
Prediction
Oman played some good cricket in the CWC Qualifiers but is out of the competition
With the kind of form West Indies are in, it is tough to say that they will be favourites for this game. With Oman impressing many in these qualifier games, there are chances that they can stun the Caribean side.
West Indies have the experience of Nicholas Pooran and Shai Hope with them and both of them are in good form. With bowling also having experience, they would want to end their campaign on a high.
The team just need to give a collective effort on the field to bring back the good old Windies’ side. On the other hand, Oman can’t be ignored in this match as they have all the capability to stun the Shai Hope & Co. So far, it looks like West Indies are going to win.