Australia Vs Oman, T20 World Cup Highlights: Stoinis Stars, AUS Kick Off Campaign With 39-Run Win

Welcome to the highlights of our coverage of match 10 of ICC T20 World Cup 2024, played between Australia and Oman at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados (West Indies) on Thursday, June 6. The Aussies secured a convincing 39-run win against Oman. Marcus Stoinis first struck an undefeated 36-ball 67 to power Mitchell Marsh's team to a 164-run total. The 34-year-old all-rounder then scalped three wickets and along with Nathan Ellis (2-28), Adam Zampa (2-24) and Mitchell Starc (2-20), helped restrict Oman to 125 for 9 in 20 overs. Catch the highlights of the AUS vs OMA match at T20 WC 2024, right here. (Match Report | Scorecard)

Australia: Mitch Marsh (c), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa.

Oman: Aqib Ilyas (c), Zeeshan Maqsood, Ayaan Khan, Kashyap Prajapati, Shoaib Khan, Mohammad Nadeem, Pratik Athavale, Naseem Khushi, Khalid Kail, Mehran Khan, Bilal Khan, Kaleemullah, Fayyaz Butt, Shakeel Ahmad, Rafiullah. Reserves: Jatinder Singh, Samay Shrivastava, Sufyan Mehmood, Jay Odedra.

Oman captain Aqib Ilyas has won the toss and decided to bowl first.

Playing XIs

Australia: David Warner, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh(c), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Matthew Wade(w), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood.

Oman: Kashyap Prajapati, Pratik Athavale(w), Aqib Ilyas(c), Zeeshan Maqsood, Khalid Kail, Ayaan Khan, Shoaib Khan, Mehran Khan, Shakeel Ahmed, Kaleemullah, Bilal Khan.

Mitchell Marsh: We were going to bowl first as well. Green, Agar, Inglis and Cummins are missing. Back end of the tournament I am hoping I can be a complete all-rounder. We are excited to start the World Cup here today.

Aqib Ilyas: We will be batting second. Fresh wicket, so it will be better to put them in. Two changes. Pratik is in and Shoaib is in as a batter.

Australia openers Travis Head and David Warner are both off the mark in the first over, with Head picking up a boundary and Australia fetching six runs off the over.

Bilal Khan has Travis Head caught at mid-off for just 12 runs, as Oman strike inside the third over to keep Australia in check.

Though they have not lost anymore wickets, Australia are scoring at around six runs an over as of now against Oman, with captain Mitchell Marsh at the crease alongside David Warner.

Oman are taking the fight to Australia with some spirited bowling, and have reduced the Aussies to 63 for 3 after 12 overs. Mitchell Marsh and Glenn Maxwell have been sent back to the dugout.

After a sluggish first few overs, Australia are now pressing on courtesy David Warner (46 not out off 43 balls) and Marcus Stoinis (44 not out off 26 balls). The Aussies have scored 120 runs for the loss of three wickets after 16.3 overs.

David Warner (56 off 51) and Marcus Stoinis (67 not out off 36) ensure Australia recover from the sluggish start and finish with a well above par total of 164, for the loss of five wickets.

Oman lose an early wicket in their chase of 165. Mitchell Starc dismisses Pratik Athavale for a first-ball duck.

Nathan Ellis traps Kashyap Prajapati in front, as Oman lose their second wicket in the fifth over.

After a game-changing innings with the bat, Marcus Stoinis now shines with the ball, picking up back-to-back wickets to leave Oman four down.

The equation keeps getting more difficult for Oman. The clinical Aussies are chipping away with wickets and keeping the runs down too. With 106 more runs needed off 40 balls and just four wickets in hand, the match seems headed in only one direction.

Oman lose their seventh wicket, and with 70 needed off 20, it is now a question of when, and by how many (runs) they will lose, rather than if.

A bridge too far to cross for Oman, in the end. They end with 125 runs in pursuit of a 165-run target. And with that, Australia commence their T20 World Cup campaign with a comfortable 39-run victory.

For his unbeaten 67 runs and three wickets, Marcus Stoinis is the Player of the Match.

Here is what he said after guiding Australia to a comfortable win: "Yeah it was a nice start. Maybe a few cobwebs for us but we're better for it, and nice that we got the win. And nice that I got to spend some time in the middle and have a bit of a bowl. [On the pitch] Yeah we'd lost a couple of wickets, was just looking to hit the ball and along the ground at the start, just keep it simple. Soak up the conditions a little bit. [Was it harder to face spin or seam?] Spin I guess. Couple keeping low, couple spinning and not spinning. But with the new ball the quicks looked tough as well. [Was he always going to go hard after the 15th over?] Not particularly. Davie and I spoke about targeting the first couple of balls of that next over and then you know, you get the first few away and you think to try and turn it into a big over."

Aqib Ilyas: "We tried to defend a low target in the first game and today played a team like Australia. Credit to our bowlers. One catch we messed up and you saw that over being taken for many runs and Stoinis. Media doesn't show the positive things that we saw. Our bowlers did well. We had a grip on the game till the 14th over. I wanted to take a catch like that against Australia. We messed up our plans. He was hitting straight down the ground easily. We then decided to change the plan and make him hit to the longer side boundary. Hopefully we will turn up better next time. If we can bat well in the powerplay it will be important for us and as a batter I have to do well there."

Mitchell Marsh: "Pretty close one in the end, but good to get a win first up. [On David Warner's run-scoring tempo] Everyone's gotta play a little bit different this tournament I think. We might get few wickets that are [good for batting] but that's the old T20 right? Someone batting through, and Davy delivered tonight. [On Marcus Stoinis' knock] It was pretty special from him, took his time and then got going through the end of the innings. [On Mitchell Starc not bowling in the latter half] Yeah just a cramp, we just took him off as a precaution but he says he's fine. [Cobwebs?] Not sure if was cobwebs as much as different conditions. Things may look a little different on these sort of wickets, but I think that's exciting. We go on to England now and hopefully that'll be a good game with a good crowd."

With that, we conclude our coverage of the Australia vs Oman game. We will be back in the evening with live updates from the Pakistan vs USA match. Until then, goodbye.