14 August 2006
OMAN PLAY TO A PLAN TO MAUL MALDIVES
Maldives v Oman at Bayumas Oval
OMAN WON BY SEVEN WICKETS
Some tosses are good to win, as this one was at the Bayumas Oval
famed for its first-hour spitefulness, but you still need to play
well for the next six hours and that’s just what Oman did.
They executed their game plan perfectly to beat the Maldives by seven
wickets.
A team packed with all-rounders with some undoubted nuggets of class,
Oman found that the makeshift talents of the Maldives deserved some
respect as, playing conservatively and with no small élan
they were 63 for 2 at the end of the 15 overs.
Spinners Tariq Hussain and Hemal Mehta bowled beautifully in the
middle of the innings, keeing even the flamboyant Moosa Kaleem in
check. Strokes found fielders, balss were padded back., runs dried
up. The Maldives just couldn’t escape the snares that Oman
put on them. Hussain and Mehta reeled off 20 overs for just 61 runs,
picking up five wickets.
Maldives would have been disappointed in only managing 170 but it
was still a competitive total. Not with Hemin Desai, 2004’s
ACC Trophy Player of the Series, in the kind of form and confidence
he’s in, however.
Fresh from a good warm-up tour of Sri Lanka, he found the middle
of the bat and the gaps in the filed from the start and he raced
to 50 and when he was eventually out for 67 off 75 deliveries, having
hit nine 4s and two 6s, the game was pretty much won.
Maldives v Oman at Bayumas Oval, 14th August 2006
Toss: Oman
OMAN WON BY SEVEN WICKETS
Maldives: 170 all out off 50 overs (A. Shahid 43, A. Shafeeq 33,
M. Kaleem 37: H. Mehta 3-34)
Oman: 171 for 3 off 34 overs (H. Desai 67, H. Mehta 37)
Man of the Match: Hemin Desai (Oman)
Oman 2 points, Maldives 0 points |
