Australia made light work of Oman to open their International Cricket Council Men’s T20 World Cup campaign with a comfortable victory by 39 runs at Kensington Oval on Wednesday night.
The 2021 champions overcame a testing period after they were sent in to post a challenging 164 for five and then restricted their opponents to 125 for nine.
Allrounder Marcus Stonis played a key role, making an impact with both bat and ball to help Australia to victory over the ICC associates in the first T20 contest between the two teams.
Stonis cracked an unbeaten 66 off 37 balls that included six sixes and two fours and teamed up with opener David Warner to give Australia impetus in the second half of the innings after they were limited to 56 for three from the first ten overs.
The left-handed Warner restrained his attacking instincts at the start before increasing the tempo in a knock of 56 off 51 balls and added 102 in 65 balls with Stonis. In the process, Warner beccame Australia’s leading run-scorer in T20 Internationals.
Stonis was especially explosive in the 15th over when he smashed medium fast bowler Mehran Khan for four sixes.
Oman scored 12 runs from the first over in which they also lost a wicket but the runs soon dried up and the outcome was effectively settled when Stonis stuck twice in successive overs with both victims falling to catches by the wicketkeeper.
Stonis added another scalp to finish with three for 19 in three overs while left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc, fast medium Nathan Ellis and leg-spinner Adam Zampa also took two wickets in Oman’s response in which the topscore of 36 came from Ayaan Khan. (HG)
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