Wednesday 27 / November / 2024
Muscat: After an initial flurry of three boundaries by young opener Aaqib Illyas, experienced Adnan Ilyas and Mehran Khan played contrasting knocks to take Oman past the Marylebone Cricket Club's (MCC) total with four balls and five wickets to spare in a testing practice match at the Ministry of Sports Affairs Cricket Ground at Al Amerat on Monday night.
Well the toast of Oman's innings was Mehran Khan, who hit two towering sixes, in his unbeaten knock of 31. He was also instrumental in restricting the visitors to 129, which at one stage suggested a run-away win for the India-bound national team.
But the MCC bowlers were equally good to put the national team in some sort of bother and choking their ability to score runs freely. Oman in reply scored 130 for 5 in 19.2 overs.
MCC, who had on Sunday lost to Muscat CT in a 50-over match which went to the wire, were determined to wind out their tour on a winning note, but Mehran had different ideas as he struck with élan to give the national team a morale booster before they embark on a challenging trip to India and Bangladesh.
However, though coach Duleep Mendis did not expose Jatinder Singh, he still should be worried over his openers.
Aaqib a great fielder, though showed his brilliance in stroke making, as an opener, he needs to convert good starts into big scores.
Fellow opener Zeeshan Maqsood still looks out of sorts and his getting back to form will be vital for Oman in bigger tournaments.
Adnan Illyas on the other hand looked solid for his 34 runs in the middle and he is the man who has proved to score on any conditions and this was also in exhibition during the team's tour to UAE and Rajkot.
Skipper Sultan Ahmed too contributed an unbeaten 14 towards the fag end and gave support to the aggressor Mehran.
Positive signs
Oman's positive signs were in the spin department vouching for the inputs bowling coach Sunil Joshi has given them during training sessions.
Oman's spin department also received a thumbs-up from MCC manager, who said: "They bowled well and denied us that extra 10 to 20 runs."
Earlier Ajay Lalcheta, who was praised by Sunil Joshi the other day, picked up three vital MCC wickets and was also supported by veteran Aamir Ali, who claimed two wickets during the middle overs.
MCC's main contributors were L. Harvey (32), A. Clarke (22) and R. Anderson (20 not out), while Reingold (2 for 13) was their pick of their bowlers.
Scoreboard
MARYLEBONE CRICKET CLUB
C. Perren lbw B. Khan 14
L. Harvey b A. Lalcheta 32
M. Payne lbw A. Lalcheta 6
S. Thakor b M. Khan 3
A. Clarke c A. Lacheta b A. Ali 22
A. Martin c M. Ansari b A. Ali 7
K. Ahmed st S. Ahmed b A. Lalcheta 6
R. Anderson not out 20
J. Hindson c B. Khan b Z. Maqsood 1
M. Reingold not out 1
Extras (w-8, b-6, lb-3) 17
Total (8 wickets; 20 overs) 129
Did not bat: O. Hannon-Dalby
Fall of wickets: 15-1, 28-2, 31-3, 76-4, 93-5, 95-6, 121-7, 122-8.
Bowling: Bilal Khan 3-0-30-1; Ajay Lalcheta 4-0-15-3; Mehran Khan 2-0-13-1; Munis Ansari 2-0-15-0; Amir Kaleem 3-0-20-0; Aamir Ali 3-0-14-2; Zeeshan Maqsood 3-0-13-1.
OMAN
Z. Maqsood c M. Payne b M. Reingold 2
Aq. Ilyas st A. Martin b M. Reingold 20
V. Wategaonkar c A. Martin b S. Thakor 14
Ad. Ilyas c A. Martin b J. Hindson 34
M. Khan not out 31
A. Ali c A. Martin b J Hindson 5
S. Ahmed not out 14
Extras (w-4, lb-6) 10
Total (5 wickets; 19.2 overs) 130
Did not bat: A. Kaleem, A. Lalcheta, B. Khan, M. Ansari
Fall of wickets: 22-1, 30-2, 75-3, 89-4, 96-5.
Bowling: O Hannon-Dalby 4-0-28-0; R Anderson 1-0-9-0; M. Reingold 4-0-13-2; S. Thakor 4-0-21-1; K. Ahmed 2.2-0-20-0; J. Hindson 3-0-24-2; M. Payne 1-0-9-0.
