OCT Al Hail ‘A’ down OCT Muscat to seal spot in final

MUSCAT: In the second semifinal of the All-Omani tournament, OCT Al Hail ‘A’ defeated OCT Muscat by 4 wickets at the Oman Cricket Academy on Tuesday. They will challenge OCT Ruwi for a place at the competition’s summit on April 21.

After electing to bat first, Majid bin Hussein bin Doshambeh al Balushi continued his hot streak by leading OCT Muscat’s scoring chart for the fourth successive time. He finished on a 54-ball 48.

However, after fellow opener Muzaffar Shiralkar’s departure for 22 runs, none of the other batsmen were able to find their rhythm. Majid also wasn’t able to cut loose during the late-middle and death overs.

With boundaries drying up, a premium was placed on strike rotation, which led to wholesale confusion among the batters on multiple occasions and ultimately, 3 run-outs for OCT Muscat. Waheed bin Rahim al Balushi was the only other to cross the 10-run mark and his side ended proceedings on 107-6 after 20 overs.

OCT Al Hail ‘A’ were collectively brilliant on the field. Waleed bin Rahim al Balushi led from the front with the ball, picking up 2 wickets for 13 runs in his 4 overs.

In response, Waleed bin Rahim al Balushi and Faris bin Said al Zadjali erected a 48-run third-wicket stand to take OCT Al Hail ‘A’ halfway home.

Both their dismissals, along with the one of Abdulghani al Balushi came in the space of 6 balls, but Abduljalil al Balushi stood tall and delivered with an unbeaten 35-run knock to seal the win for his side with 2 overs to spare. Waleed and Faris collected 25 and 19 runs respectively.

With the ball, Mohamed bin Aslam al Balushi made up for his sub-optimal showing in the first innings with three wickets.

Unfortunately for his team, the score on the board proved too little to play with. They will now contest OCT Seeb for third place on April 21.

In the day’s other game, OCT Al Mabela recorded a comprehensive 63-run win over OCT Al Hail ‘B’ to ensure a fifth place finish in the tournament.

Zafarullah al Balushi (48) and Nabeel Mohd Boota (42), alongside vital contributions from Assad al Balushi and Shareef al Balushi powered OCT Al Mabela to a first innings score of 160-5.

Adil Ishaq and Waleed Abdulmajid picked up 2 wickets each for OCT al Hail ‘B’, who responded by getting cleaned out for 97 in the second innings with Shohaib Ghulam, Adil Ishaq and Khalid bin Rahim bin Bakhsh al Balushi the only ones to reach double figures. With the ball for OCT Al Mabela, Faris al Balushi’s 2 over-spell yielded 3 runs and as many wickets.

BRIEF SCORES:

OCT Muscat 107-6 in 20 overs (Majid bin Hussein bin Doshambeh al Balushi 48 (54b, 1×4); Waheed bin Rahim al Balushi 2-13) lost to Al Hail ‘A’ 109-6 in 18 overs (Abduljalil al Balushi 35 (24b, 4×4, 1×6); Mohammed bin Aslam al Balushi 3-25) by 4 wickets.

OCT Al Mabela 160-5 in 20 overs (Zafarullah al Balushi 48 (39b, 4×4), Nabeel Mohd Boota 42 (28b, 4×4, 1×6); Waleed Abdulmajid 2-25) beat OCT Al Hail ‘B’ 97 all out in 19.4 overs (Shohaib Ghulam 22 (20b, 4×4); Faris al Balushi 3-3) by 63 runs.