Oman defeat Singapore for second win in a row
The five-wicket victory firmly put Duleep Mendiscoached Oman on the path to the final, which will ensure the team’s promotion to ICC WCL Division 2
MUSCAT: Brilliant bowling performances, including a five-wicket haul by Bilal Khan, and composed batting from trio of Sultan Ahmed, Ajay Lalcheta and Aaqib Ilyas helped Oman record a five-wicket victory over Singapore in the ongoing ICC World Cricket League (WCL) Division 3 competition in Uganada on Saturday.
Electing to field first, Oman bowled out Singapore for 100 in 37.1 overs before achieving their target in just 24.1 overs for the loss of five wickets.
The result, their second successive win after Friday’s six-wicket victory against hosts Uganda, put Oman firmly on the path to the final and a possible promotion to Division 2. Oman, with six points after three wins from four matches, currently occupy second place in the six-team competition behind table toppers Canada, who too have six points with three wins from four matches.
They are followed by Uganda and Singapore, both on four points, and U.S. and Malaysia, on two points each, in that order.
Though Oman are now close to the the final, Duleep Mendiscoached side have to defeat bot- tom placed Malaysia in their final league match on Monday to seal their berth in the summit clash.
In Monday’s other matches, Canada play Singapore and Uganda square off against U.S.
On Saturday, Oman captain Sultan Ahmed won the toss and elected to field first against Singapore. Left-arm pace bowler Bilal Khan struck two early blows, removing both the openers Salladore Vijaykumar (4) and Chamunda Ruwan Kamarage (11) as Singapore were reduced to two for 24.
The City State team never recovered from that early set back. Besides Kamarage, Anish Param (34) and Chetan Suryawanshi (30) were the only batsmen to enter the double figures as the team were bundled out for 100.
While Bilal returned with the figures of five for 19 in 7.1 overs, fellow paceman Munis Ansari too troubled the Singapore batsman with his accurate bowling.