Scotland breeze past Oman to boost their chances of reaching Super 8 stage

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Scotland gave themselves a great chance of reaching the Super 8 stage of the T20 World Cup with a comprehensive victory over Oman.

They claimed a seven-wicket victory with nearly seven overs to spare in Antigua to put England in serious danger of an early exit.

England, who have Oman and Namibia still to play, can only now pip Scotland, who face Australia in their final group game, on run rate.

After restricting Oman to 150 for seven from their 20 overs, George Munsey and Brandon McMullen starred with the bat to guide Scotland to 153 for three from 13.1 overs.

Safyaan Sharif made his 200th appearance for Scotland, replacing Brad Currie, who has a minor injury, and becoming the first bowler to achieve the landmark.

Oman chose to bat but wickets fell at regular intervals, with Nassem Khushi the first to go, mistiming a shot off Chris Sole to Mark Watt.

Aqib Ilyas was then bowled by Sharif before Zeeshan Maqsood nicked behind off Watt and was smartly caught by Matthew Cross.

Scotland felt they should have had a wicket when Khalid Kail pulled away after Watt had released the ball and it hit the wicket but the umpire ruled it a dead ball.

Kail headed back to the pavilion shortly afterwards, though, following a mix-up at the crease to leave Oman 71 for four.

Pratik Athavale remained and he was dropped, while Cross missed a stumping, but the opener was unable to make Scotland pay when he was caught by McMullen for 54.

A strong final over from Ayaan Khan, who ended unbeaten on 41, took Oman to what appeared a defendable total, but Scotland had other ideas.

Michael Jones fell early but Munsey and McMullen picked up the pace, at one stage hitting 30 runs from just eight balls, before the former top-edged a catch to Shakeel Ahmed to fall for 41 from 20 balls.

Richie Berrington was bowled for only 13 but McMullen carried Scotland to victory with 61 from 31 balls, supported by a late cameo from Cross.

McMullen told Sky Sports: “The main priority was to win the game and get the two points. But at the drinks break we decided to have a crack at the net run rate.”

He declared himself “very confident” of reaching the Super 8, adding: “It gives us confidence going into the Australia game. We’ve done really well as a group so far. We’ve got to stay level-headed, keep raising that bar.”