England proved their naysayers wrong rather quickly as they seemed in a hurry to get done with Oman to register their first win of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup in Antigua and Barbuda on Thursday, June 13. England shot out Oman for a paltry score of 47 in a little more than 13 overs and chased it down in just 3.1 overs to hand a booster shot to their net run rate. England have now taken NRR out of the equation as a win against Namibia and Australia beating Scotland would be enough for them to make it to the Super 8 stage.
It was steamrolling an opponent done right. It started with Jofra Archer starting the wickets procession in the second over of the innings getting Pratik Athavale getting caught in the covers and it just didn't stop. Archer sent back Oman skipper Aqib Ilyas in his next over before Mark Wood sprung into action with a couple of wickets in his first over. Losing four wickets in the powerplay itself didn't help Oman.
If that wasn't enough, Adil Rashid didn't even give an inch to the opposition as Oman batting line-up fell like a pack of cards. Rashid registered figures of 4/11 while Wood and Archer took three apiece as Oman were knocked out for 47, the fourth lowest team score in the T20 World Cup and the lowest against England for any team.
Lowest team score in T20 World Cup
39 - Netherlands vs Sri Lanka (Chattogram, 2014)
39 - Uganda vs West Indies (Guyana, 2024)
44 - Netherlands vs Sri Lanka (Sharjah, 2021)
47 - Oman vs England (Antigua, 2024)
55 - West Indies vs England (Dubai, 2021)
Lowest team score in T20 World Cup vs England
47 - Oman (Antigua, 2024)
55 - West Indies (Dubai, 2021)
80 - Afghanistan (Colombo, 2012)
England needed to chase the target down in 5.2 overs to get their NRR above Scotland, who already have reached five points and they did it in just 3.1 overs. Phil Salt began with a couple of sixes before being clean bowled by Bilal Khan. Will Jacks also got out in the next over as England were in the know of the NRR situation. However, some clean strikes by skipper Jos Buttler in the third over ended the game in jiffy as England won by eight wickets. One more win for England and if Australia play well against Scotland, the defending champions will be through to the Super 8.
