New Delhi:
The Al Amerat Cricket Ground in Muscat, Oman witnessed a day of records for all the wrong reasons for the hosts, who were bowled out for a miserable 24 against Scotland. When one considers that Khawar Ali’s 15 was the top score to go with three extras, the rest of the batsmen contributed just six runs to the total. The rest of the scorecard, barring Khawar’s knock, read 0,0,0,2,2,1,0,1,0 and 0. Ruaidhri Smith and Adrian Neill both ended up with figures of 4/7 as Oman were bundled out in just 17.1 overs. Only one boundary was hit in the entire innings and Scotland reached the target in just 3.2 overs, with Matthew Cross and Kyle Coetzer slamming 10 and 16 respectively.
The score of 24 by Oman is the fourth-lowest List A score in history. The West Indies Under-19 side were bowled out for 18 against Barbados at the Blairmont venue in October 2007. It broke the previous record of 23 which Middlesex suffered against Yorkshire in a game in June 1974. Saracens were also bowled out for 19 against Colts in Colombo. The lowest score in ODIs is 35 by Zimbabwe and they suffered the fate against Sri Lanka in Harare in 2004 with Chaminda Vaas taking 4/11.
This is the second time that Oman have been bowled out for less than 50 in List A cricket. During the ICC Trophy game against Papua New Guinea in July 2005, Oman finished their innings at 41 all out in a chase of 135. The game was reduced to 24 overs per side.
This match was part of Scotland’s three-game series against Oman. All three games will be played at the Al Amerat Cricket Ground on February 20 and February 22.
In 2016, Oman had created history as they became the lowest-ranked side to enter the World T20 held in India in 2016. Playing in World Cricket League Division Five, Oman qualified for the ICC World Twenty20, in 2016 in India after defeating Namibia by five wickets. Oman, had begun their qualification campaign with a defeat to Kenya but defeated the Netherlands and Afghanistan before qualifying by chasing Namibia’s 148 for nine. In the qualifiers, they defeated Ireland by two wickets to set off wild jubilations in the camp. However, as the tournament progressed, their game against Netherlands was washed out and they were blown away by a Tamim Iqbal century as Bangladesh hammered them by 54 runs via the DLS method.
