By Canadian Press

Canadian cricketers lose by nine wickets to Oman in ICC T20 World Cup qualifier

Feb 19, 2022 | 9:25 AM

MUSCAT, Oman — Unbeaten half-centuries by Kashyap Prajapati and captain Zeeshan Maqsood helped host Oman to a commanding nine-wicket win over Canada on Saturday at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier A.

The loss evened Canada’s record at 1-1 after an opening win over the Philippines.

In other play Group B Saturday, Nepal dispatched the Philippines by 136 runs to top the group with four points. Canada and Oman have two points each.

The United Arab Emirates leads Group A with four points. Bahrain and Ireland have two points apiece.

The top two teams in each of the two groups advance to the knockout round. The two finalists will qualify for the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia later this year.

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The Canadian men now face a tough task in moving on. After a rest day Sunday, Canada plays Nepal while the Philippines take on Oman on Monday at the eight-team qualifier

Canada, which has never qualified for the T20 World Cup, will need to win to advance to the knockout round.

“We know it is a big game. The good thing is we are not out of the tournament yet so we will try our best,” said Canadian captain Navneet Dhaliwal.

Oman won the toss and elected to field first at the Oman Academy ground in Al Amerat.

Canada finished at 155 for six after its 20 overs.

Opener Rayyan Pathan hit four fours before being run out in the fifth over for 26. Matthew Spoors, who hit a century in his T20I debut on Friday, exited soon after on 11 runs. Dhaliwal was caught for one run in the next over to leave the side at 43-3.

Ravinderpal Singh (46) and Saad Bin Zafar (20) steadied the ship with a 42-run stand. And Dillon Heylinger provided some sting in the Canadian tail, slamming a six and two successive boundaries in the 18th over to stay unbeaten on 21 off 10 balls.

Chasing a victory target of 156, Oman lost opener Jatinder Singh in the fifth over with the total at 30. Maqsood joined Prajapati to share a 129-run unbroken partnership that secured the win with 12 balls to spare at 159 for one.

Prajapati was unbeaten for 74 off 56 balls, with five boundaries and four sixes. Maqsood’s 76 off came off 44 balls, with six boundaries and five sixes.

“Catches win matches is an age-old saying. We dropped some big catches, of their opener (Prajapati),” said Dhaliwal. “If we had taken those chances, the match could have gone differently. We only have ourselves to blame. I think Oman bowled really well, so credit goes to them. But we were quite happy with the total we put up.”

Ireland and Oman qualified for the tournament by virtue of being eliminated in the first round of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021, while Nepal and the U.A.E. booked their slots via their rankings in the ICC MRF Tyres Men’s T20I Team rankings.

The other teams advanced through regional qualifying tournaments with the U.S. and Canada finishing 1-2 at the 2021 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Americas Qualifier in November in Antigua.

The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier B is scheduled for July 11-17 in Harare with Hong Kong, Jersey, the Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Uganda, the U.S. and host Zimbabwe taking part.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 19, 2022.

The Canadian Press