Lorcan Tucker stars as win over Oman sees Ireland get off mark at T20 World Cup
A superb unbeaten 94 by Lorcan Tucker inspired Ireland to an emphatic win over Oman at the T20 World Cup.Ireland had no margin for error in Colombo after back-to-back defeats to Sri Lanka and Australia but stand-in captain Tucker blitzed four maximums in a 51-ball innings of 94 to help his nation post 235 for five.It always looked a tall order and whilst Aamir Kaleem struck 50 at the top of the order, Barry McCarthy accounted for him and Josh Little recorded figures of three for 16 to dismiss Oman for 139.Without injured captain Paul Stirling, Ireland were put into bat and were in trouble at 64 for four midway through the eighth over.Tucker stayed composed and found a key ally in Gareth Delany, who hit 56 in a 101-run partnership for the fifth wicket before George Dockrell smashed five sixes in an explosive 35 not out down the order.Kaleem’s half-century and 46 by Hammad Mirza kept Oman in the contest before the latter was run-out and Little proceeded to rip through the middle-order to earn Ireland a 96-run World Cup triumph ahead of Tuesday’s final Group B fixture with Zimbabwe.Tucker paid tribute to his Irish team-mates, he said in his on-pitch interview: “One of our best days.“We turned up and played some positive cricket. We have played against them before and it was about respecting the opposition.“They bowled well through the first 10 (overs) and then we had the opportunity to come back stronger.“We had talked about batting first, so happy to do either. We needed to come here and win and we got a boost to our net run rate as well.”On his match-winning innings, Tucker added:” It was about keeping my tempo and capitalising on bad balls for boundaries.”
