Tucker stars as Ireland crush Oman by 96 runs at T20 World Cup

COLOMBO: Ireland’s stand-in-captain Lorcan Tucker scored a superb unbeaten 94 as they hammered Oman by 96 runs to register their first Group B win at the T20 World Cup.

It propelled Ireland to the tournament’s highest score of 235-5, the second biggest total in the history of the men’s T20 World Cup.

Oman were never remotely in the chase at Colombo’s Sinhalese Sports Club and were bundled out for 139 in 18 overs.

“The pitch was good and we tried to capitalise by rotating the strike and putting the bad balls away,” said Tucker, who took over after Paul Stirling was ruled out on Friday with knee ligament damage.

“My role in the batting unit has changed and I am loving the challenge,” Tucker said after posting the highest individual innings of the tournament so far.

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He rescued the Irish from a precarious 64-4 after 7.3 overs with a sensational 51-ball knock that included 10 fours and four sixes.

“We had lost too many wickets and we tried to keep the momentum,” he said.

He just missed out on a century when he lost the strike in the final over and was a spectator as George Dockrell hit the last three balls to the fence.

Tucker put on 101 runs for the fifth wicket with Gareth Delany, who made 56 off 30 balls.

The big-hitting Dockrell finished with a 35 off just nine balls.

In reply, opener Aamir Kaleem scored exactly 50 and Hammad Mirza 46 but they were the only bright spots for Oman.