Oman vs Namibia: The third clash to settle the matter

Oman will be up against Namibia in the 66th ODI match of the Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2. The match will be played at Dubai International Cricket Stadium on 14th March, Monday.

Oman has continued to reign top of the scoreboard with 17 wins, eight losses, and one draw match. It currently has 36 points on the board, with a net run rate of 0.108.

On the other hand, this League has proven to be much more challenging for Namibia, who currently ranks at number five on the board with cumulative points of 12. It has won six of its matches and lost six as well.

The last time Oman clashed with Namibia, on 11th March, it came out of the match as the winning team. The 64th March of the Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 witnessed Oman beating Namibia with seven wickets in hand.

While Namibia managed to make 275 runs with a loss of eight wickets in 50 overs, Oman easily caught up to the target within 47 overs while suffering a loss of three wickets. Batters Shoaib Khan and Kashyap Prajapati played a significant role in ensuring the win. While Khan amassed 105 runs, Prajapati added 71 to the board, making half of the required runs!

• Aqib Ilyas
• Zeeshan Maqsood (Captain)
• Shoaib Khan
• Kashyap Prajapati
• Bilal Khan

However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that Oman is going to be the winner against Namibia in Monday’s match as well. Why? Well, this is because the first time the two clashed within this series, on 6th March, it was Namibia who won, that too by a staggering 110 runs!

In the match, Namibia put up a score of 226 runs while its bowlers were able to restrict Oman to a mere 116 runs in the second innings. David Wiese, Jan Frylinck, Tangeni Lungameni, and JJ Smit both took two wickets each, leading their team to victory.

Just like Oman managed to avenge its loss in the next match, one can expect Namibia to be just the same. With a fifty-fifty win-loss probability, keeping in mind its current standing, you never know when Namibia will outperform.

• Gerhard Erasmus (Captain)
• JJ Smit
• Jan Frylinck
• David Wiese
• Tangeni Lungameni

Even though Oman clearly has the upper hand, keeping in mind its recent performance in the League, the matches between Oman and Namibia are notorious for being unpredictable. Apart from the last two matches in the league, which had polarizing results, the same is also true for the two matches before that.

In the 2021 matches, Oman once won by nine runs while Namibia won the previous one by 40 runs. In other words, when one team wins a given match, the other team wins the next.

If the pattern tells us anything, then Namibia might win Monday’s match. However, keeping in mind Oman’s performance, this is a hard bet to make too!