Associate Tri-Tournament - Oman v Canada

Possibly a deciding game for one side.  Canada desperately need points as they near the end of their 36 game odessey to get to the next part of 2027 World Cup qualification.  Oman are in fourth position and want to consolidate that position with pressure coming from the Netherlands (who they meet in the UEAin the near future) and from Namibia who they are on a par with at the moment.  Both sides have failed to get past Nepal in this series and so will want to 'bounce back' into winning ways this morning. A couple of changes in both sides with Canada going with a seam unit while Oman go with their spinners once again.  Canada have won the toss and decided to bat first.

CWC Tri-Tournament - Oman v Canada @ Al Amerat Muscat Thursday 15 October 2026

Canada have won the toss and have chosen to bat first this morning.  The Omani side sees one change as seamer Shah Faisal is replaced by spinner Nadeem Khan.

The Omani side is;

Jatinder Singh, Hasnain Ul Wahab, Karan Sonavale, Hammad Mirza, Mujibar Ali, Vinyak Shukla (c & W), Zakria Islam, Jay Odedra, Hassnain Shah, Shakeel Ahmed, Nadeem Khan 

Canada go into this one with Samit Gohel and Aaditya Hundal return after missing the Nepal game and they go with more pace as Kaleem Sana is brought into the bowling attack.

Aaron Johnson and Yuvraj Samra open for Canada against the new ball spine of Ahmed and Jay Odedra - there will be a lotof spin in the Omani attack today. Ahmed starts with a maiden while Odedra gives each bat a single to get them both off the mark and it is 2 for 0 after 2.  In the third Johnson goes into attacking mode - a bold plan against Shakeel he takes him for 2 consecutive sixes to set out his plan for the start of this innings, moving the score on to 15 after 3.

Samra looks to push on as well but he cuts the first ball of the fourth over straight to Mirza in the covers and departs for 2 only at 15 for 1 and Odedra strikes early.  In comes Gohel who is off and running from his first ball with a single.  Johnson continues to push on and he has moved to 21 from 14 after 5.  The Canadians have 27 for 1.  The power of Johnson is on show today and in the 8th over he brings up his side's 50 with his third six off Odedra straight down the ground.  He moves to 33 from 19 while his partner has a run a ball 15.  But if you live by the sword you can also die by it and the Canadian looks to play across the next ball and misses it.  He is bowled and leaves the middle with 33 to his name containing 2 fours and 3 sixes in the 20 balls he faced.  Canada are 50 for 2 and his place is taken by Hundal.  Odedra has 2 for 22 from his 4 overs.

Nadeem Khan has been introduced to allow a change of ends for Ahmed and he goes for 8 from his first.  Now Ahmed takes the 9th from the supporters stand end before Hassnain Shah is brought on for the last over of the 'Powerplay' at 55 for 2.  Canada end the first 10 at 58 for 2 with Hundal on 6 from 9 and Gohil on 17 from 20.

Hundal takes on Shah in the 12th but only succeeds inhitting the ball straight to Mirza at short cover and Canada are 60 for 3 with the departing bat taking 6 fromhis 14.  In comes Varadharajan to take his place.

There has not been a lot of turn so far in the game but the Omani plan is to take the pace off the ball and starve the Canadians of the big boundary shots.  It is strange that a side that struggles with games where they have to accumulate imposes the need for that very skill on their opponents so often.

After 15, Canada have 79 for 3 as Gohil takes the lead role in the innings.  Sonavale comes into the attack for the 17th.  After 20 overs they have moved to 95 for 3 with Gohil on the edge of the 40s.  Varadhrajan takes the single that moves Canada into 3 figures in the 22nd over off the bowing of Odedra who has loooked much more dangerous inthis game than in the Nepal match.

Samit Gohil has a significant record to his name.  In 2016 he carried his bat through a complete innings of a Ranji Trophy game for Gujarat scoring 359 not out.  He is the lead bat in the partnership at the moment though his partner Varadhrajan has produced the first six of the innings. However as they reach the halfway 25th over, it is Gohil on 47 from 59 who leads the way with his partner on 27 from 46 in the Canadian total of 116 for 3.

Gohil goes to a debut international 50 with 3 fours in 64 balls and the score on 122 for 3 in the 27th.  his team mates would probably like him to be still there when the game has moved in to the 40s in terms of overs - his job is only really half done at the moment if Canada want a BIG total for Oman to chase.

Oman want a wicket and they decide to bring back and bowl Odedra out in the 28th (his 9th over).  He finishes this one with 2 for 39 at 127 for 3 as we move towards the 30 over point.

Jay Odedra bowls out with the 30th over with decent figures of 2 for 46.  Canada go into the "downhill" part of the innings with 142 for 3 and a solid, well established partnership on the go.  Sami Gohil is leading from the front with 64 from 78 and is now being well supported by a more expansive Aaditya Varadhrajan who is starting to flow more with 34 from 57.  Together they must be hoping to remain in place so they can push this score into the high 200s from this point.  Oman could do with a wicket or two to re-establish their position in the innings.

The Canadian 150 arrives in the 32nd as Sonavale bowls his fourth and he breaks through as Gohil gets slightly under one he was not set for and Jatinder Singh takes an excellent diving catch in front of the scoreboard to send the bat on his way for 67 from 85 with 5 fours.  The Omani give the Sajid Khan salute in his usual extrovert style and the game moves on at 151 for 4 bringing Harsh Thaker to the crease, a player who has not yet stamped any kind of authority on this series with the bat.

It takes until the 35th for the new man to get off the mark and that is after Varadhrajan gets to his 50 at 165 for 4 off the bowling of Khan.  He goes to 52 from 73 balls with 3 fours and a six.  At the end of the 35th Thaker has his first single and Canada are 166 for 4.

To get things moving hopefully, Ahmed returns for the 37th and with his second ball he has Varadhrajan looking to sweep across the line.  He misses the ball with his whole body in the way and isgiven out LBW for 55 from 79 at 172 for 5.  In comes the Canadian skipper Hamza Tariq having lost his premier batat just the wrong moment.He works with Thaker to set the base for the last 10 overs and the move to something over 250.

It goes moderately well, though probably slower than he would like up until the end of the 39th over when the last ball from Shah is clipped by Thaker straight to the hands of Islam at mid wicket.  The score is 190 for 6 and Thaker leaves the middle with 13 from 21 to his name and that introduces Sukhjinder Singh to the middle with 10 overs to come.  He doesn't see many of them as he is right in front of the stumps with 2 to his name when Shah  bowls again in the 42nd.  Singh is walking back at 196 for 7 and the 250 is looking a distance away from Canada's present position.

New boy Kaleem Sana returns to the side and is out in the middle with his captain looking to get this score moving again.  Two runs from him off Khan in the next over takes Canada past 200 and he has a real go at Khan in the 44th taking a huge square six off him to go into double figures.  However, the bowler comes back and an attempted push from Sana has too much air on it and it pops back to Nadeem who takes the catch to remove the Omani number 9 for 17 at 219 for 8.  Sheel Patel replaces him as Ali is once again introduced for the first time into the bowling attack for the 45th the new batting pair have pushed to score to 219 for 7 with the new bowler going for 9 off the only one he has bowled.  

He does get a couple more and Canada have moved to 240 for 8 as we come to the last overs of the innings.  the 250 is on as the pair face Shah's last over which is also the penultimate one.  The seamer starts it with figures of 3 for 42 and ends his spell with 3 for 47.  Canada need 5 to break the 250 boundary from the last 6 balls.

Mujbir Ali takes he last over and the Canadian pair take the score over 250 to 256 before Patel goes once too often and is caught by Singh in the deep for an important 20 from from 18.  Zahid Shirzad comes out to face the last ball of the inning and he is stumped going up the wicket for a big 'wahoo' without scoring.  256 all out.  Shah the seamer led the line with 3 wickets and the spinners contributed with Odedra taking 2 and Sonavale, Khan and Ahmed all having 1 to their names.  Everyone bowled pretty tightly except for Ali who had the awful job of spinning out the last overs.  He got two wickets in his last one but his 4 over spell went for 35 and got the visitors past that important 250 level.

On a ground where chasing is a problem for the home side, they need 257 to take the points.

The Reply

Kaleem Sana has been brought into the Canadian side to give them some 'bite' in the opening overs and he opens against Jatinder Singh  and Husnain Ul Wahab.  Singh the opener is looking to stamp some authority on this innings and he starts with a very authoritative four from the third ball.  A lot of this game  is held in his hands.  If he fires then Oman tend to.  He takes 6 with the bat from the first and extras move ti to 9.  Shirzad takes the new ball at the other end and Wahab hopes to deal with him the same way as he is off the mark with a four early in the second over.

Unfortunately this kind of approach requires bats to gamble and that is the downfall of Singh in the 3rd when he gets hold of a delivery from Sana but doesn't get it far enough over Hundal at point who takes a superb diving catch over his head and the Omani opener is on his way for 13 from 8 at 26 for 1.  Karan Sonarvale replaces him and we now have to see if Oman can re-establish and kick on after losing one of their openers.

Wahab is looking to keep the momentum as he produces the first six of the innings off the bowling of Shirzad in the fourth and by the end of it they have 35 for the loss of Jatinder.  They have progressed to 37 for 1 after 5.

Sheel Patel starts his job of work with the sixth over.  With the last ball he beats quite a loose shot from Sonavale and bowls him through the gate.  He goes for 7 from 13 and once again Oman's batting line-up is struggling to set a base to build from.

Mirza is the next man to put himself to that task as Patel's spin partner Sukhjinder Singh comes on at the other end.  By the end of the 8th over Oman have 50on the board and Mirza has a single to start his score.  His partner Wahab finds himself in the role he took on very successfully in the first game when he anchored the innings for his side.  He has a run a ball 24 to his name.

The scary part of the game at the moment is that Singh is getting early turn when the expectation was that there would be little spin but the pitch would provide more grip as the second innings moved towards its conclusion.  Early spin is NOT what the home side want to see.  They reach 55 for 2 at the end of the 'Powerplay'.

Mirza looks a little scratchy at the start of his innings but he is starting to show a little more confidence as the overs click through.  It may be a good thing because in the 14th over Ul Wahabis down on one knee sweeping across the line and the ball goes through.  The problems is that you cannot shuffle back if you are kneeling and when the keeper breaks the stumps there is not enough of Wahab's foot behind the line and he is stumped for 29 from 36 at 66 for 3 and Mijubir Ali comes out to help push this score along.

The present job is to break the stranglehold that Singh has on the batting at one end, he has only gone for 4 from his first 3 overs and it means the bats can't get into their stride at the moment.  His run total moves to 7 after 4 and the score is 69 for 3 after the first 15 overs.

Thaker changes the nature of the bowling as he comes on for the first time to deliver the 16th. But once again the middle order of Oman is finding it hard to get the score moving along when an acceleration is needed.  By the 20th over they have only reached 84 for 3 and once again the run pressure is starting to build as the Omani bats can't find the balance between hitting the boundary rope and turning the score over with ones and twos at an adequate speed.

Hammad Mirza seems to be the solution to this IF he can stay in and IF he can start to move.  he is ramping up his scoring rate as his side start to knock on the 100 run door in the 23rd over.  Shirzad is bowling once more so there is some pace to work with rather than the very tight work of Patel and Singh so the Oman's need to work at this.

Ali drives over the infield to take his score to 10 with a boundary.  That four also brings up the Oman 100 in the 23rd.  However, as happens so often, just after a milestone is reached a wicket is taken.  Ali looks to turn the next one down to the rope just outside the cordon where the slips would be but he steps across too far and does not get an edge on the ball and it clips the off stump!  He is out for the 10 at 101 for 4 and the home side has to prepare to build again with still about a run a ball of the target to achieve.  

Mirza on 36 welcomes his captain Vinayak Shukla to the middle and the game is now in the hands of these two at the start of the 24th over.  They have 26 overs to score another 155 runs.  It's a run a ball.

At the halfway point the scoring rate is still too slow.  They have 107 with 6 wickets in hand still 150 behind and a RRR is an easy 6 and over.  Mirza must take hold of this innings and work his present 39 up towards 3 figures while the skipper must support and while doing so start to ratchet up his own contribution so they are not looking at a 3 figure target with only 10 overs to go.  They need to stay in and get the runs required well below 100 as they come into the last 10 with wickets in hand.

Moving into the second half of the over and thing go wrong within 9 balls when Shirzad catches Shukla in front and the umpire raises his figure to send the captain back to the 'hutch' for 11 from 11 at 117 for 5.  Zikiria Islam takes over the support role but 9 balls later he is returning at 123 bowled by Patel for a mere 6.  The pressure is building and Oman are buckling under it.

Nadeem Khan joins his team mate as the work required ramps up again.  He has not been in for long when Singh tempts him but the edge to slip is put down by Hundal with the Omani on zero.  He compounds the error by driving the next ball four to get off the noughtin the 28th.

The 30th over ends with 130 for 6 on the board.  The rate of scoring is stillnot good enough but every time the home side start to put something together, the Canadians strike again.  Mirza is the key to this chase as he has gone to 44 from 75 balls while Khan has 5 from 8.  The number of balls is not the issue, it's the bats managing tonot give their wickets away while they are accumulating and doing that so they do not have to risk giving their wickets away with rash shots.

If it is not a rashshot of course it could be a daft run call.  Thaker is back on for the 44th and Mirza takes a single from his first ball.  However, for some reason the pair decide a second one is on with Hundal picking the ball up, hesitation gives the fielder the time to fire the ball in and Khan does not make his ground at the non striker's end and is run out for 13 from 21 at 143 for 7. 

His place is taken by Jay Odedra but the over ends badly as Mirza, on 49, loses his patience and fires one out to the Academy boundary where Sheel Patel catches him before a run is added to the score - an idiotic run out followed by a brainfart big shot before the new partnership has settled and Oman are throwing this game away at 143 for 8.

Ahmed joins Odedra and they take the score to 150 at the end of the 36th over still over 100 runs behind with 2 wickets left. They look to do what they canand by the time Shirzad is bowling the 39th they have moved the score into the 160s but at no real pace because the bats who could have done that have mostlybeen and gone in this iinnings. The second ball has Ahmed coming up the wicket to send the bnall over the bowler's head.  Unfortunately it doesn't have enough legs and the catch is easily taken by Thaker moving in from the supporter stand boundary.  Oman are 9 down for 162 as the bowler takes his bat back to the dressing room for 8 from 10 and Oman's number 11 Hassnain Shah comes out to see what he can do.  They only need 95 in 10 overs so... no pressure!!

They take the game into the 45th over and move the score to 191 when Shah absolutely skies one into the infield.  Singh comes running in and completely mucks it up, overrunning the ball and not really gett ing any real hand contact with the ball.  Shah gets a life line on 26 from 32 while Odedra is watching most of this at the other end with only 14 to his name. The partnership goes on reachinga score of 192 with 30 balls to go!!

Patel takes the 46th and the batting side need 61 from the last 24 balls at the end of it.

Sana takes the next (his 9th) and tempts Shah to hit him.  He does, straight to Yuvraj Samra and the game is open as he succumbs for 27 from 37 with 1 four and 3 sixes (you can't say he didn't try).  Odedra is not out 18 from 27 and Oman come up 58 runs short, again showing they can't chase a total is the front end goes cheaply.

The bowlers stuck to their task, bowling tightly in all cases with Shirzad (3 for 48) and Patel (3 for 38) doping most of the damage.  2 from Sana and 1 from Thaker just meant the Canadians were just too good for the Omanis and they leadwith a victory they sorely needed to stay enthused for this contest.  Again the Omanis come up short still unable to chaase a total as a consistent batting unit and they have to go on to the Nepal game at the start of next week to see if they can find the next elusive points in this chase for the last League 2 spot with the Netherlands and Namibia.