Match details
Oman vs Scotland
North Sound, 1pm local time
Big picture –
Scotland must be wondering what they have to do to be noticed at the T20 World Cup.
But, whether in the spotlight or not, they are where they would have liked to be, and could be closer to their target after the Oman game.
Before that, though, they will keep a close eye on Saturday’s game between Australia and England. Scotland, No. 1 in the group prior to that match, will know that a win over Oman will help them control their destiny going into their final group fixture against Australia.
George Munsey fired against England, taking down pace and spin alike, overcoming the slowness of the surface with ease. In their second game, Richie Berrington and Michael Leask stood up under pressure to give Scotland the win after a potentially tricky chase of 156.
One complete performance is what Oman will be after to stay alive, even if only mathematically. Scotland will want to prevent that. This could be a cracking contest between two sides that are ambitious, talented, and looking to hit a higher level.
Form guide
Scotland WLWLW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Oman LLLWW
In the spotlight
Team news
Oman (probable XI): 1 Kashyap Prajapati, 2 Pratik Athvale (wk), 3 Aqib Ilyas (capt), 4 Zeeshan Maqsood, 5 Ayaan Khan, 6 Khalid Kail, 7 Shoaib Khan, 8 Mehran Khan, 9 Shakeel Ahmed, 10 Kaleemullah, 11 Bilal Khan
Scotland have their entire squad to choose from, but don’t seem to have any reason to make changes.
Scotland (probable XI): 1 George Munsey, 2 Michael Jones, 3 Brandon McMullen, 4 Richie Berrington (capt), 4 Matthew Cross (wk), 6 Michael Leask, 7 Chris Greaves, 8 Mark Watt, 9 Chris Sole, 10 Brad Wheal, 11 Brad Currie
Pitch and conditions
The caravan rolls into North Sound as Sir Vivian Richards Stadium hosts its first game of the T20 World Cup. There was a good grass cover on the pitch two days out from the game, but much of it has been shaved off, and batters can hope for a happy time.
Stats that matter
- Scotland and Oman have faced off four times in T20Is, including once at a T20 World Cup, in 2021. Scotland have won all four games chasing
- Munsey needs 70 more runs to become the second Scotland player with 2000 T20I runs – his captain Berrington was the first
- Zeeshan Maqsood needs two more wickets to become the second Oman player with 50 T20I wickets after Bilal Khan
Quotes
“it’s not easy to clear these boundaries when the wind is blowing, so we have to decide from which end you have to bring your best bowler, which end you have to charge as a batter, which bowler you have to look to hit with the wind.”
Oman captain Aqib Ilyas on the wind factor
“I chatted to a few of the net bowlers just there where I was bowling spin with them. They all seem to think it’s pretty flat, which is great. I think our captain, Richard Berrington, has reached out to a few of the local boys and asked them how the conditions are and what the score is like at this time of year, because that’s massively important to know the scores at a different time of year.”
Mark Watt on the pitch
Shashank Kishore is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
