Australia v Oman preview: All you need to know

Match Facts

Who: Australia v Oman

When: Wednesday June 5. Coin toss at 8pm local time (10am AEST), first ball at 8.30pm local time (10.30am AEST)

Where: Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados

How to watch: Amazon Prime Video

Officials: Joel Wilson and Asif Yaqoob (standing), Ahsan Raza (third), Kumar Dharmasena (fourth)

Live scores: Australia v Oman match centre

Highlights, news and reactions after the match: cricket.com.au and the CA Live app

The squads

Australia: Mitch Marsh (c), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa. Reserves: Jake Fraser-McGurk, Matt Short

It's been well noted that Australia had only nine of their squad available for their warm-up matches in Trinidad but finally the whole squad assembled on the weekend, a handful of days before their opening match of the tournament. However, this is a very experienced group of players who will know what they need to do to get tournament ready.

Oman: Aqib Ilyas (c), Zeeshan Maqsood, Ayaan Khan, Kashyap Prajapati, Shoaib Khan, Mohammad Nadeem, Pratik Athavale, Naseem Khushi, Khalid Kail, Mehran Khan, Bilal Khan, Kaleemullah, Fayyaz Butt, Shakeel Ahmad, Rafiullah. Reserves: Jatinder Singh, Samay Shrivastava, Sufyan Mehmood, Jay Odedra

Conversely, Oman were the first team to arrive in the West Indies, landing in Barbados back on May 14. The squad has made the most of their time on the island too, playing three practice matches in addition to the two ICC warm-up matches, a win over Papua New Guinea and a washout against Afghanistan.

How to watch

It's a new era for watching World Cup cricket in Australia.

All 55 matches of the tournament will be shown live on Amazon's Prime Video online subscription streaming service after the internet giant recently acquired the Aussie broadcast rights for all ICC events for the next four years. There will be no free-to-air Australian broadcast of this World Cup as a result.

You can sign up to Prime Video by clicking here.

How to recap

Everything you could need will be right here on cricket.com.au. 

We'll have a live blog in play during the match, so even if you miss some live play you can catch up on the big moments as they happened. 

Interviews, highlights and the Unplayable Podcast will all review what took place and keep you informed on the key takeaways. 

Local knowledge

Spin is expected to feature prominently at Kensington Oval and history says the slower bowlers are by far the most effective in Bridgetown. Early looks at the surface seem to suggest a very, very dry surface despite there being a decent amount of rain in the area in the preceding days.

Australia have a 2-4 record at the iconic coastal venue but have only played here once in the format since losing the T20 World Cup final in 2010.

Oman's first ever official fixture in West Indies, let alone in Barbados, was their opening fixture against Namibia, which they lost in a Super Over. But captain Aqib Ilyas says his side feels comfortable with what they've played on so far.

"These wickets are a bit similar to Oman, especially the conditions, they are very similar to Oman, windy conditions, humid conditions," Ilyas told reporters on the eve of his team's first match.

Possible starting XIs

Australia: David Warner, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh (c), Glenn Maxwell, Tim David, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade (wk), Pat Cummins, Mitch Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood

 

Oman: Kashyap Prajapati, Naseem Khushi (wk), Aqib Ilyas (c), Zeeshan Maqsood, Khalid Kail, Ayaan Khan, Mohammad Nadeem, Mehran Khan, Shakeel Ahmad, Kaleemullah, Bilal Khan

While we could see Australia tinker with their XI throughout the group stage, a pretty standard lineup would be the safe play to open their tournament. The Barbados pitch looked more suited to spinners than quicks, so Ashton Agar will be another name tossed around by the selectors. The prospective of wet weather - and a shortened game - could also impact the selection. 

For Oman, it was so close yet so far in their loss to Namibia. The bowlers did a tremendous job of defending only 109, while the batters either got out early or battled hard on a tricky pitch. Captain Aqib Ilyas said he expected the bowling attack to remain largely unchanged but put the top order on notice. 

Players to watch

Australia has no shortage of superstars in their XI, but it's hard to go past captain Mitch Marsh. Although he won't bowl in the first half of the tournament as he's still recovering from a hamstring injury, Marsh holds the key No.3 position in the batting order and has the ability to change a match in no time at all. It was no surprise that Australia's drought-breaking win in the 2021 tournament coincided with a Marsh purple patch.

Oman's attack will be led by lion-hearted veteran Bilal Khan who has built a terrific record over his decade-long international career. The 37-year-old left-arm quick has more than 200 international wickets to his name and is still very much a barometer for his side. He was tasked with bowling the Super Over against Namibia and conceded 21 runs, so he'll be desperate to put in a strong showing against the Aussies.

Recent form

Past 10 T20 matches, most recent first. W: win, L: loss, N: no result 

Australia: WWWLWWLLWL

The Aussies have played some great T20 cricket since the start of the calendar year, winning five of their six matches in 2024 so far. That comprises a 2-1 win over West Indies at home and a 3-0 sweep of New Zealand across the ditch in late February.

The 2021 champions played two warm-up matches, both in Trinidad, but were severely undermanned in both with a host of players still to arrive in the Caribbean. Despite that, they defeated Namibia by six wickets and lost to West Indies by 35 runs.

Oman: LLWWWWWLLW

Oman had a heart-breaking loss in their World Cup opener against Namibia, fighting their way back into the game after scoring only 109 before losing in a Super Over.

The Omanis were in great form at the end of the Asian Cricket Council Premier Cup in April, winning five matches in a row before losing to UAE in the final. The ACC Premier Cup is a T20 tournament for the second-tier Asian nations to compete in, with the likes of Nepal, Kuwait and Hong Kong also among the competitors.

This will be Oman's third T20 World Cup (after 2016 and 2021) but their first go in the main stage, with the previously used qualifying round for the lower-ranked nations scrapped for this edition.

Last time they met

Australia have never played Oman in a T20.

Rapid stats

• Although Oman had never progressed into the main stage of the T20 World Cup before, their overall record is solid, with two wins to go with three losses (and one no result) heading into this tournament.
• If selected, it will be Pat Cummins' first-ever outing in the Caribbean, who despite having 202 international matches to his name, has never played a game in the West Indies.
• Of the top 50 run-scorers in T20Is this year, Oman's Naseem Khushi has the highest strike rate, with his 305 runs coming at the astonishing rate of 194.26.
• Leg-spinner Adam Zampa needs eight wickets this tournament to become the first Australian man to take 100 scalps in T20Is.

Where to next?

Australia stay on in Barbados and will play England at the same venue in three days' time. Oman are off to Antigua where they play Scotland on June 9.

2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup

Australia's squad: Mitch Marsh (c), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa

Australia's Group B fixtures

June 6: v Oman, Kensington Oval, Barbados, 10.30am AEST

June 9: v England, Kensington Oval, Barbados, 3am AEST

June 12: v Namibia, Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua, 10.30am AEST

June 16: v Scotland, Daren Sammy Stadium, St Lucia, 10.30am AEST

Super Eights, finals to follow if Australia qualify

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