Bridgetown: Marcus Stoinis shone with bat and ball as Australia resumed their bid for the senior cricket title with a 39-run win over Oman in the T20 World Cup in Barbados on Wednesday.
Stoinis smashed a game-changing 67 off just 36 balls to take Australia to 164-5, then took three wickets for 19 as Oman were restricted to 125-9 in reply at Kensington Oval.
“It was a good start,” said Man of the Match Stoinis afterwards. “Maybe there’s a bit of a watermelon for us, but we’re better for it and it’s good to get the win.
“And I’d rather hang out and have a little cuppa.”
Stoinis hit six sixes and two fours to spark Australia’s recovery after falling to 50-3 in the innings.
David Warner helped provide some stability with a half-century as Australia continued after captain Mitchell Marsh and Glenn Maxwell were bowled back-to-back balls by seamer Mehran Khan in the 11th over.
A few overs later, Stoinis continued the onslaught and dominated the 102nd-over fourth-wicket partnership to take the lead away from the bowlers.
Warner scored 56 off 51 balls, including six fours and one six, in the last innings before his international retirement.
Warner’s innings reached 3,155 to become Australia’s highest run-scorer in T20 internationals since former captain Aaron Finch.
Four of Stoinis’ six sixes, meanwhile, came in Mehra’s 15th innings, creating such momentum that the 2021 champion managed to double his total in the last six innings.
After being beaten by Namibia in a thrilling super final in Sunday’s opener, Oman looked set to fight back after the early dismissal of Travis Head and then the Marsh-Maxwell double.
However, Australia’s competitive prowess began its campaign to become the first nation to hold three cricket titles – Test, ODI and T20 – at the same time.
Meanwhile, the captain of Samudra Aqib Ilyas spoke after the strong performance of Samudra.
