Oman takes Scotland to the wire of a thrillingly tense game
SCOTLAND v OMAN, Match Report, 4 April 2009 [Video]
Scotland, 274 for nine after 50 overs, defeated Oman, 265 for nine after 50 overs, by nine runs.
This was an exhausting WCQ2009 match - not just for the players of both sides, who wrestled with each other’s cricketing talents for the best part of eight hours, but also for the spectators and team officials, who finished the day drained of any coherent thoughts of triumphalism.
Oman won the toss and, perhaps taking their cue from Scotland’s previous first-innings struggles, decided to field, even though there was very little moisture in the excellent pitch at the Walter Milton Oval, the picturesque Witswatersrand University ground in Johannesburg. As it happened, Scotland skipper Ryan Watson would have chosen to bat first anyway, as the conditions suggested that a 300+ run total would not be out of place.
Unfortunately, Watson’s run of poor form continued and, with Gavin Hamilton shrugging off his midriff bruising also out for not a lot (12), the Scots found themselves two down with only 23 on the board.
So it was left to two of the younger players, Kyle Coetzer and the mercurial Navdeep Poonia (pictured right), to consolidate and take the innings forward. They shared a partnership 136, Poonia contenting himself with just one huge six before his concentration failed him and he was clean bowled for an excellent but somehow unfinished 79.
Coetzer, who had held the Scots innings together against Namibia, continued to chalk up runs, even though he was nowhere near as fluent as he had been in the earlier match.
Colin Smith, another batter who had performed well in the warm-up matches before the tournament proper, again insisted on giving catching practice to the covers, and Neil McCallum, looking ill-at-ease when faced with no more than 18 overs in which to try to emulate his previous heroics, also perished for single figures, as did Moneeb Iqbal.
At 210 for six, the prospect of a 300+ score had receded, though there was an excellent 56-run partnership between Coetzer (right, acknowledging the applause on achieving his century) and the ever-obliging Jan Stander. It would have been satisfying if these two had seen the innings complete, but Coetzer holed out in the 49th over, his personal contribution of 127 being his second century for Scotland and containing one tremendous on-drive for six, along with a dozen fours.
Calum MacLeod came and went, sacrificing himself to get Stander to the business end, and last man Dewald Nel allowed Stander to post another cameo innings of 27 off 20 balls.
The total of 274 was certainly another step up from the previous games, but the brutal truth was it could and should have been more than 300 - and the Omanis were not about to let the Scots rest on these fragile laurels.
Oman’s opening pair of Maqsood Hussain and Hemin Desai looked as if they were late for an important appointment, with the former launching an astonishing assault on the Scots bowling from ball one. Eleven came off the first over from Nel, another 17 from the second by MacLeod, 12 from the third and nine from the fourth. The 50 came up from the first ball of the fifth over, and the Scots looked dazed.
Maqsood continued on his merry way, hitting cleanly and powerfully to and over the boundary, taking 12 off the seventh and 13 from the eighth before, finally, he overreached himself and was soundly yorked by young MacLeod - Maqsood accounting for 70 out of 87 for two from just 30 balls…
From this point on, the Scots were struggling to get back on equal terms. It was clear that the key would be wickets. If Oman had wickets in hand, they would win; if Scotland kept prising out the Omani batsmen, there was still a chance of victory.
The 100 came up in the 12th over, and there was little encouragement for any of Ryan Watson’s bowlers. The third wicket didn’t fall until the 29th over, Zeeshan Siddiqui caught behind just after he’d reached his half-century, with score on 157 for three.
But then something uplifting happened: the Scots pulled themselves together with some excellent fielding and catching, and began to pull back the mounting deficit, shrewdly masterminded by skipper Watson‘s frequent and appropriate bowling changes.
First, MacLeod executed another wonderful direct hit run-out with only one stump to aim at (182 for four). Next, a diving Coetzer got his fingers under the ball at mid-wicket to dismiss another batsman (203 for five).
Gordon Goudie trapped Awal Khan in front, and Omani wicket-keeper Sultan Ahmed was clean bowled. Suddenly, one was aware that three of the last four wickets had been on Jan Stander’s watch (left), and that run was extended with another outstanding diving catch, this time by Poonia at mid-on.
Stander finished as the pick of the bowlers, taking 4-41 from ten overs, but he wasn’t finished yet as, just when the Omanis looked to have resumed their momentum towards victory, Stander unleashed a bullet of a throw from deep point for Smith behind the stumps to leave Farhan Khan stranded trying to recover his ground, the total now being 250 for nine, with three overs remaining and 25 runs to get.
At this point, Goudie left the field with a yelp and was taken to hospital for a check-up after tearing tendons and/or muscles in his bowling arm during a delivery. And Amir Ali, the remaining big-hitting Omani, had to get a runner after hitting a yorker from Nel onto his foot.
The final two overs produced more fine yorker balls, demonstrating admirably fine control of line and length by MacLeod (two singles off the penultimate over) and Nel (five runs when the Omanis needed 15 to win) at the end of a long day.
Skipper Watson was full of praise for his young death bowlers, and for the way his team stuck to their task through thick and thin. But it remained true that, but for Coetzer’s century, with Poonia and Stander also mentioned in the batting despatches, Scotland would have lost this game, and there was much understanding sympathy for the disappointed but always courteous Omanis.
As it is, it’s P3 W2 L1 for Scotland, and one more victory from the remaining two Pool A matches (Uganda and Canada) will suffice to take the Scots into the Super Eights. It would be nice if the entire batting line-up showed what they’re capable of before we reach that stage!
Match Commentary | Scorecard | Photos | Video
Report by Mike Stanger
