T20 World Cup 2024: AUS vs OMA- Who said What?

Australia (AUS) registered a comfortable victory over Oman (OMA) in the 10th match of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 on (Thursday) June 06, at the Kensington Oval, in Barbados.

Oman skipper Aqib Ilyas opted to bowl first after winning the toss. Bilal Khan and Mehran Khan gave Australia some early blows after picking the wickets of opener Travis Head and skipper Mitchell Marsh, respectively. Veteran opener David Warner looked at his usual best as he got off to a flying start even though wickets were falling from the other end. In his 51-ball stay, Warner smashed 56 runs and hit six boundaries and one six at a strike rate of 109.80.

Glenn Maxwell who had a poor outing in the recently concluded IPL 2024, continued his lackluster performance with the bat. Australia's scoreboard was 63/3 after 12 overs, but Marcus Stoinis' unbeaten 67 off 36 helped his team finish their innings at 164/5.

Oman's chase never got going as they lost wickets at regular intervals. Their score stood at 29/3 after the powerplay. Mitchell Starc, Nathan Ellis, and Adam Zampa shared six wickets to take Australia over the line. Marsh and Co. won the game comfortably by 29 runs as Oman finished their innings at 125/9 after 20 overs.

1. Marcus Stoinis's all-round show

The all-rounder played a huge role in Australia's first victory in the T20 World Cup 2024. With the bat, he scored an unbeaten 67 and with the ball, he scalped three crucial wickets. His performance proved to be costly for Ilyas and Co. as they suffered their second defeat of the tournament. 

2. Australian bowlers at their usual best

The inexperienced Oman batting team was completely outclassed by the Australian bowlers. Starc, Ellis, Adam Zampa, and Stoinis took regular wickets preventing the opposition's batter from forming a partnership and winning the match.

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.