Oman arrived on the world stage in style in their opening match in the T20 World Cup on Wednesday and they go into their second match with the Netherlands on Friday knowing if they win it they will remain in control of their own destiny.
The Netherlands put up a good show against Bangladesh in their first match but by going down by eight runs they have put themselves into a position where they simply have to win this match to remain in the tournament. Were they to win the game they would still have an outside chance of going through.
If there was anything that let the Netherlands down against Bangladesh it was the depth of their batting so it might be that they play the extra batsman. He could either replace Pieter Seelaar or one of the expensive bowlers with Seelaar actually doing some bowling this time.
After all the talk of their mankad exploits in the lead up to their opening match Oman were actually a breath of fresh air in their opening match. They bowled tight lines, backed up their bowlers in the field as we saw with that amazing Zeeshan Maqsood catch and then really took the attack to the opposition when they had the bat in their hand. As the pressure cranks up in this tournament it will be interesting to see if they can continue doing that.
It would be extremely harsh for Oman to make changes to their side after such a wonderful performance in the last game. As a result I’m expecting them to be unchanged for this one.
This is the first time the two nations have met in limited overs cricket of any kind so we’ve not got a whole lot to go at if we’re honest so I’m going to leave the outright match alone especially with the do or die element adding to the pressure that is already there.
In terms of a bet I’m going to take Oman to lead through six overs with a 5.5 run head start. We saw in the first matches of both teams that there was a difference in the way the two went about their work. The Dutch went with an all seam attack in the powerplay while Oman bowled a spinner and then mixed their seamers around him.
With the bat Oman just went after everything and Ireland found Zeeshan Maqsood impossible to bowl to whereas the Dutch were just a little more circumspect and I think that aggression makes Oman a big price in the highest first six overs market especially with the head start. The control of their bowlers coupled with the aggression of their batsman makes the cap look very big.
Back Oman (+5.5 runs) Highest 1st 6 Overs for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Sportingbet
