England Dominate Oman to Revive T20 World Cup Hopes

England hammered Oman by eight wickets, reviving their T20 World Cup campaign with a record-breaking win in Antigua on Thursday.

Needing a heavy victory to bolster their net run-rate and overtake Scotland in the race to qualify for the second round, England routed Oman for just 47 runs. England then made 50-2 in a mere 3.1 overs, with captain Jos Buttler scoring 24 not out and Jonny Bairstow, who hit the winning boundary, unbeaten on eight. This overwhelming Group B victory meant England recorded the largest win in T20 World Cup history in terms of balls remaining.

Oman had no answer to England’s attack. Leg-spinner Adil Rashid took 4-11, while express quicks Jofra Archer and Mark Wood both had figures of 3-12, ending Oman’s innings with nearly seven overs to spare. Number seven Shoaib Khan, with 11 runs, was the only Oman batsman to reach double figures after Buttler won the toss.

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England’s net run-rate climbed to 3.081, better than Scotland’s 2.16. Although they remained third on three points, behind Scotland’s five. Amid speculation that arch-rivals Australia might ease up in their closing pool game against Scotland to engineer England’s exit, Buttler’s team knows they will go second if they beat Namibia in their pool finale on Saturday.

Even a win against Namibia would leave England awaiting the outcome of Sunday’s match between Australia and Scotland to discover if they have reached the Super Eights. “I thought the tone was set really well by the bowlers, picking up the early wickets,” said Buttler. England returned to winning ways after a comprehensive 36-run loss to Australia, which followed a washout with Scotland. “Job done today, another big game in two days’ time.”

Defeat by Australia added pressure on Buttler and coach Matthew Mott, a native Australian, especially after England’s poor performance in the 50-over World Cup in India last year. “I’ve been around long enough to know how things work,” said Buttler. “We have confidence. We can only focus on ourselves, we’ve got a huge game against Namibia.”

Already eliminated Oman ended the tournament having lost all four of their games. They just scraped past the record lowest completed total of 39 at any T20 World Cup, posted by Uganda against co-hosts West Indies in Guyana last week. “We couldn’t do well in the batting, it was a big collapse,” said Oman captain Aqib Ilyas. “Overall we couldn’t do much. There are still many positives and you just have to get better and better. Once in a year you play against bowlers doing 150 kph (93 mph) plus.”

Archer did the early damage with 2-12 in nine balls. Oman then lost two wickets in Wood’s first over, slumping to 25-4 in six overs. Wicketkeeper Buttler removed the bails at the second attempt to stump Khalid Kail off Rashid’s first ball, as wickets continued to tumble. Phil Salt struck the first two balls of England’s chase for six, only to be bowled off the third by Bilal Khan, but his side was already on their way to victory.