Ireland 183 for 3 (G Delany 89*, O'Brien 41, Khawar 1-28) beat Oman 148 for 9 (Khawar 50, Dockrell 2-24, Adair 2-26) by 35 runs
The tussle for the top-of-the-table standing in Group B of the T20 World Cup Qualifier tightened as Ireland completed a comfortable 35-run win over Oman. Oman slipped to third place after suffering their first defeat of the tournament, but they remained tied on four points with table toppers UAE and second-placed Ireland.
Asked to bat, Ireland put on a dominant display with No. 3 Gareth Delany making an unbeaten 89 off 49 balls, a performance he would later back up with the ball.
His knock formed the backbone of their 183 for 3, but the rest of the line-up played its part with opener Kevin O'Brien contributing a 28-ball 41 and No. 4 Harry Tector also making a 20-ball 28. On 39 from 28 at the fall of Tector's wicket, Delany cut loose, his next 50 runs taking just 20 more deliveries. In this period, Delany struck six fours and two sixes, with his partner Mark Adair having to do little other than turn the strike over, as he finished with a nine-ball 11 in their unbeaten stand of 64 which came off just 30 balls.
Oman needed a strong start and through Khawar Ali got just that as they raced to 47 in the sixth over despite the loss of opener Jatinder Singh for 10. But Delany couldn't be kept out of the game much longer as he gave Ireland an opening with the wicket of Aqib Ilyas, who had just smashed him for consecutive fours.
While Khawar continued on his merry way, bringing up his 50 off just 32 balls, Oman lost captain Zeeshan Maqsood for 3 just after. Disaster struck in the form of who else but Delany, who removed Khawar next over to leave Oman reeling at 77 for 4. Wicketkeeper Suraj Kumar and Aamir Kaleem, though, weren't throwing in the towel yet as they added 32 in 20 balls to keep their team in the hunt. But their departure off successive deliveries from George Dockrell in the 13th over, with Kaleem run-out and Suraj stumped, dented their chances of posing a serious challenge in the final few overs. They eventually limped to 148 for 9 in 20 overs.
