Oman Quadrangular Series 2019: Day 3 Round-up
After a one-day break, the contest resumed on Day 3 with Netherlands taking on the hosts Oman in the third match of the tournament.
Oman lost the game despite scoring a decent 166 runs in the first innings. In another match, Scotland beat Ireland by 6 wickets.
Here, in this article, we take a closer look at how these matches panned out.
Match 3: Netherlands vs Oman
In the first match of the day, Netherlands registered a comprehensive win over Oman. Netherlands skipper Pieter Seelaar won the toss and invited Oman to bat first. Oman opener Khawar Ali fell cheaply for 2, and so did No. 3 Aamir Kaleem who scored 4 runs.
Oman were 2 down for 33 in the 8th over, at which point came in Khurram Nawaz who played a brilliant innings of 58 off 34 balls to help his team to reach a fighting total. Nawaz and Jatinder Singh added 89 runs for the 3rd wicket at a brisk pace. Jatinder Singh essayed a composed innings of 63.
In the slog overs, Naseem Khushi's quickfire 28-off-11 helped Oman put 166 runs in their quota of 20 overs.
With 167 to chase, the Dutch openers started off really well, adding 80 runs in the first 9 overs. Tobias Visee, the hero of the previous game, once again played a superb innings of 44 off just 24 balls, featuring 3 fours and 3 sixes.
Stephan Myburgh made a sensible 34 off 36 balls. Visee and Myburgh fell within nine runs of each other, the briefest hiccup in the Dutch chase. After that, Ben Cooper and Ryan ten Doeschate added an unbroken 78 runs for the third wicket which saw Netherlands home.
Cooper struck a half-century while Ten Doeschate contributed an unbeaten 32.
Match 4: Ireland vs Scotland
In a high-scoring match, Scotland chased down the target of 181 with ease and positioned themselves at the No. 2 spot in the points table. This was, in fact, a match for openers in which all four went on to score half-centuries.
Scotland captain Kyle Coetzer won the toss and decided to field first. Irish openers Paul Stirling and Kevin O'Brien each notched up half-centuries as part of a 115-run opening stand, an Ireland T20I record for any wicket.
Ireland were surely looking for somewhere near the 200-run mark at that time, but left-arm spinner Mark Watt had other plans. He nabbed both the openers sandwiched around No. 3 Andy Balbirnie in a game-changing spell to restrict Ireland to a well-under par score of 180.
Chasing 181 required a solid start by Scotland, and their openers provided just that. They came out all guns blazing and made a mockery of the Irish bowlers.
Scotland reached the 100-run mark in the 8th over itself. George Munsey was the first to depart after making a brilliant 50 off 27 balls. Coetzer got out in the 13th over after making 74 off 38 balls, which featured 9 fours and 4 towering sixes.
By that time, the required run-rate had come down to less than a run a ball. Despite Richie Berrington and Matthew Cross both falling for ducks to complete a mini-collapse of 3 for 3, Calum MacLeod and Craig Wallace added an unbeaten 37 together to see Scotland home.