Ireland managed to keep their faint Super 8 dreams breathing with a whopping 96-run thrashing of Oman in their T20 World Cup 2026 Group B showdown in Colombo. The Irish found themselves in hot water at 64/4, but wicket-keeper and temporary captain Lorcan Tucker played an absolute blinder, smashing 94 runs from just 51 deliveries to propel his team to a colossal 235/5 in their 20 overs. Tucker had some fantastic company from Gareth Delany (56 from 30 balls) and George Dockrell (35 from 9 balls). When it came to bowling, left-arm speedster Josh Little stole the show by claiming three scalps, helping dismiss Oman for a modest 139 in 18 overs. This outcome crushes Oman’s dreams of reaching the Super 8 phase. Captain Tucker’s Knock Sealed A Massive Win For Ireland .
TOSS-
Oman won the coin flip and chose to bowl first.
PLAYING XI-
Oman (Playing XI):
Aamir Kaleem, Jatinder Singh(c), Hammad Mirza, Ashish Odedara, Mohammad Nadeem, Jiten Ramanandi, Vinayak Shukla(w), Nadeem Khan, Sufyan Mehmood, Shah Faisal, Shakeel Ahmed
Ireland (Playing XI):
Ross Adair, Tim Tector, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker(w/c), Curtis Campher, George Dockrell, Gareth Delany, Mark Adair, Barry McCarthy, Matthew Humphreys, Joshua Little
IRELAND-
Earlier in the match, Shakeel Ahmed had grabbed three wickets in just five overs to put the brakes on Ireland’s fiery beginning. However, Tucker, captaining for the first time in T20Is while the injured Paul Stirling watched from the sidelines, sparked an Irish comeback alongside Gareth Delany.
The pair stayed smart with their aggressive play until the 16th over, only occasionally giving the bowlers a real workout. During the 11th over, both Delany and Tucker launched massive sixes off Nadeem Khan’s bowling. Two overs down the line, Tucker crafted two clever boundaries off Sufyan Mehmood’s delivery, then celebrated his fifty in the following over with a crisp shot through square leg.
The batting in the last three overs was actually ruthless and definitely made things much worse. As per Tucker’s late attack, Mohammed Nadeem and Jiten Ramanandi suffered badly, giving away 26 and 21 runs each. As per the match details, George Dockrell also joined the hitting and smashed three sixes one after another to finish Ireland’s innings.
OMAN-
Only for a short time during the powerplay, when Aamir Kaleem and Hammad Mirza attacked the Ireland bowlers, it seemed Oman could fight back, but Ireland itself dominated the match further throughout. Oman actually scored 63 runs in six overs, which is definitely the highest in this World Cup, even though Ashish Odedara took two wickets in the third over.
The two batsmen made a 73-run partnership for the third wicket, but Oman found itself struggling further to score runs quickly after the field restrictions ended. Once Kaleem actually got out by top-edging a pull shot in the 11th over, their chase definitely fell apart completely. We are seeing Ireland taking six wickets in only five overs as Oman fell down to 121 for 9 by the 16th over, with Josh Little getting three wickets.
Brief Scores:
Ireland scored 235/5 in 20 overs with Tucker making 94 and Delany 56, while Shakeel Ahmed took 3-33. Oman could manage only 139 runs further, with Kaleem scoring 50 and Mirza 46, as Ireland won the match itself by 96 runs.
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