Zimbabwe skittled Oman for 103 before knocking off the runs with 39 balls to spare. Brian Bennett was unbeaten on 48 and Brendan Taylor, 40, who played in the first T20 World Cup in 2007, made 31 before retiring hurt.

Zimbabwe’s quick bowling twin towers Richard Ngarava and Blessing Muzarabani did the early damage, reducing Oman to 27-5 with none of their top order managing to get into double figures. A face-saving 42-run stand for the sixth wicket between Sufyan Mehmood and Vinayak Shukla gave Oman’s total some respectability.

Ngarava finished with 3-17 and Muzarabani 3-16. Brad Evans provided the perfect first-change foil, hitting a nagging line and length to take 3-18.

–Reuters–