Marcus Stoinis shone with bat and ball as Australia launched their bid for the grand slam of major cricket titles with a 39-run victory over Oman in the T20 World Cup in Barbados on Wednesday. Stoinis hit a game-changing 67 not out from just 36 balls to take Australia to 164-5 and then took three wickets for 19 runs as Oman were restricted to 125-9 in reply at Kensington Oval.
“It was a good start,” Stoinis, man of the match, said afterwards. “Maybe some cobwebs for us, but we’re better and it’s good we got the win.
“And it was nice to be able to spend some time in between and eat some bowl.”
Stoinis hit six sixes and two fours during a swashbuckling batting performance that spearheaded Australia’s comeback after having fallen to 50-3 earlier in the innings.
David Warner helped provide some stability with a half-century as Australia finally went ahead after captain Mitchell Marsh and Glenn Maxwell fell off successive balls to seamer Mehran Khan in the 11th over.
After a steady few overs, Stoinis went on the attack, dominating a 102-run fourth-wicket partnership that effectively wrested the initiative from the Omanis.
Warner, in his final tournament before international retirement, made 56 off 51 balls, including six fours and a six, before falling in the penultimate over.
Warner’s innings propelled him past former captain Aaron Finch as Australia’s top run-scorer in T20 Internationals with a tally of 3,155.
Meanwhile, four of Stoinis’ six sixes came in the 15th over of the innings, bowled by Mehran, and triggered such an accelerating pace that the 2021 champions were able to more than double their total in the last six overs of the innings.
“Davey (Warner) and I talked about (tactics) before this,” Stoinis added when explaining the sudden batting spree. “And then you know what it’s like when you get the first few balls out of bounds, you just think you might as well try to turn it into a big over.”
Beaten by Namibia in a thrilling super final in the opening game on Sunday, Oman looked in the mood for a fight with Travis Head’s early dismissal followed by the Marsh-Maxwell double blow.
However, Australia’s competitive know-how helped them get through that tricky period, as they began their campaign with victory to become the first nation to hold all three global cricket titles – Test, One-Day and T20 – simultaneously. .
Mitchell Starc, who left the field before the end of his spell with cramps, played his signature opening knock in defense of Australia’s total and finished with two wickets, as did pace partner Nathan Ellis and leg-spinner Adam Zampa.
Meanwhile, Oman captain Aqib Ilyas was encouraged by the performance of Oman’s bowlers after a solid start.
“Playing against a top team today was a great experience, especially after the last Super Over game,” said Ilyas. “They played very well, but the credit goes to our pitchers. Our pitchers can do very well on curved tracks.”
Topics mentioned in this article
This story originally appeared on ndtv.com read the full story
