Muscat: Oman’s hopes of playing in the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia this year have been dashed. Oman lost to Ireland by 56 runs in the second semi-final of Qualifier ‘A’ yesterday. In the first semi-final, UAE defeated Nepal by 68 runs. With this, the UAE and Ireland qualified. Ireland will face the UAE in the final on Thursday. Oman and Nepal are vying for third place. The match will be played at 2 pm at the Emirates Cricket Academy Ground. Oman, who beat the Philippines by nine wickets in the decisive group match, were confident of playing at the same ground and might not dominate at any stage of the match yesterday.
The hosts won the toss and elected to field. Gareth Delaney (47), Harry Taker (35) and Andy McBerrin (37) put on 165 for the loss of seven wickets. In reply, Oman failed to put up a good partnership. Openers Kashyap Prajapati and Jitender Singh were out for seven each. Shuhaib Khan (30) and skipper Zeeshan Maqsood (28) were the only batsmen to shine in the Oman batting line-up. All out for 109 in 18.3 overs.
Yesterday’s defeat is the latest example of Oman forgetting to play at crucial stages at home. Nepal failed to challenge the UAE in the first semi-final. UAE won the toss and elected to bat first, scoring 175 for seven. Opener Mohammad Wasin (70) and Arvind (46) were the top scorers for the UAE. In reply, Nepal were all out for 107 runs.
