Sri Lanka, Oman clash in crucial match

ICC World Cup Qualifier

Two unbeaten teams in Group B of the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers Sri Lanka and Oman will clash in a crucial match scheduled to be played in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe tomorrow.

Oman have been a surprise team at the tournament, exceeding expectations, having already beaten Ireland and UAE and will come into the game full of confidence to register what would be one of their biggest wins in their history.

Sri Lanka on the other hand, deemed as one of the strongest of the ten team’s that are battling for the two slots for the forthcoming World Cup, will be facing a team that has pulled off a surprise and are in top form.

Sri Lanka began their campaign in style with a massive 175 runs win over UAE with Kusal Mendis who made a top score of 78, Sadeera Samarawickrama (72), Pathum Nissanka (57), Dimuth Karunaratne (52) and an unbeaten 43 by Charith Asalanka which laid the foundation for the win.

Spinner Wanindu Hasaranga did the finishing touches with impressive match figures of 6 for 24 which sealed the win for Sri Lanka.

Oman too began their campaign with success defeating a Test playing side in Ireland against whom they prevailed with a comfortable five-wicket win a high scoring encounter.

They followed it up with another win also by five wickets against UAE.

They have four top batsmen in their ranks in Kashyap Prajapati, skipper Zeeshan Maqsood, Aqib Illyas, who so far made back to back half tons, Mohammad Nadeem and Shoaib Khan from whom they will be expecting for a repeat of their performances of the first two matches.

But it’s left to be seen whether the Omanis would be able to come in terms with the Sri Lanka bowling which much more contrast than the two teams that they confronted and Sri Lanka no doubt will be favored carry on their winning trend which began against Afghanistan in their three-match series. (MSA)