England vs Oman Prediction: 13/5 Phil to rub Salt into Oman’s wounds

It’s England v Oman on Thursday, June 13 (20:00, Sky Sports Cricket) in North Sound, a must-win game for Jos Buttler’s men if they want to stay alive.

James Pacheco has worked hard at working out an angle on the England top batsman and bowler markets and has come up with 13/5 and 100/30 chances that logic dictates should go very close in his England vs Oman T20 World Predictions...

England

Many of the fears about this England team have proven to be justified. Mark Wood’s limited game-time for England in T20Is over the years means he’s not always in gear for the demands of this format, Chris Jordan has a knack for taking wickets but can be expensive while the absence of a left-hander in the top order makes it an easier task for the opposition bowlers.

Of course, they didn’t lose to Scotland but concede plenty and may well have lost it had the rain not come. But they certainly lost to Australia and convincingly.

The experiment to bowl Will Jacks in the Powerplay proved disastrous, Wood and Adil Rashid conceded plenty and once Jos Buttler got out in the chase, they never looked likely to get home.

Buttler was at least on the money when he said England need to first worry about winning their remaining games and only then about net run rates if they’re to make the next stage. You’d think this is as easy as it gets for them but the pitch may stop them from thinking too far ahead.

Sam Curran could get a game ahead of Jordan or it may be Wood making way, though his express pace could bring Oman’s batsmen plenty of problems.

Possible XI: Buttler, Salt, Jacks, Bairstow, Ali, Brook, Livingstone, Curran, Jordan, Archer, Rashid, Wood.

Oman

They put in a valiant effort with the bat against Scotland in posting 150/7 but the ease with which Scotland chased that suggests they were a good 25-30 runs short.

But we can’t expect miracles from a side who is so new to this level of cricket.

Keeper Pratik Athavale hit a good 54 off 40 after a duck in his first game while there was good support down the order from Ayaan Khan who hit 41, albeit off 39 balls.

Skipper Aqib Alyas did his bit with a quick-fire 16 off 6 and a wicket.

Zeeshan Maqsood, the class act in the side with the bat, is yet to fire.

Possible XI: Athavale, Khushi, Ilyas, Maqsood, Kail, A Khan, M khan, Rafiullah, Ahmed, Kaleemullah, B Khan.

Pitch and conditions

Australia dismissed Namibia for just 72 but the ease with which they chased that (after 5.4 overs) suggests that says more about Australia’s attack and Namibia’s batting than the pitch.

Oman’s 150 against Scotland is perhaps a better indicator of a pitch where runs are on offer if you have set batsmen in. England will be targeting around 180 batting first; you’d think Oman getting to 130 would be seen as a job well done for them. With run rates in mind, Buttler would probably prefer to try and post a big score and dismiss Oman for as few as possible, then chase whatever they post as quickly as possible.

England vs Oman T20 World Cup Odds

*Please click on the link above to be taken to the main England vs Oman T20 World Cup market page on betfred.com (or app) for all the live betting prices on this match.

Not much to see here, folks.

Odds of 1/33 about England are only attractive to the biggest of odds-on shots backers and there doesn’t seem to be an in-play angle regarding England drifting to something backable, much less would you think Oman are worth a punt. Let’s move on.

England Top Batsman

I’d be lying if I said there were some seriously good value betting options in this match; there aren’t. So we’re going to have to work out some sort of angle.

It’s not inconceivable that Oman are all out for around 110 which means it’s not worth looking beyond the England openers in a small chase. It’s also very possible that if England bat first, those same openers stick around while scoring at breakneck pace and don’t give anyone else a chance. So one of the two it is.

We’re going with Phil Salt, who can often be even more explosive than Buttler and who is a bigger price at 13/5 to the skip’s 21/10.

England Top Bowler

The Aussie bowler having all the fun in that win over Namibia was Adam Zampa, whose 4-12 off four gave him his second Player of the Match award in a row.

At the same venue and in a match where there’s a big gulf in quality between the two sides it could therefore pay to go with a player of as similar profile; and that man is fellow leggie Adil Rashid. If that all sounds a bit simplistic, let’s remember that this is England’s record wicket-taker in the T20I format with 111 wickets that we’re talking about here.

So it’s with regret that I swerve the 6/1 and 8/1 on fellow spinners Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone but they’re unlikely to bowl their four, Rashid is, and has a good record at claiming cheap wickets against poor opposition. So the 100/30 on the Yorkshireman is good enough.

Jamie Pacheco predominantly covers Cricket for us at Betfred Insights. You can check out his Cricket Betting Tips, along with those from the rest of the team, at our Cricket hub page...