Ansari five-for decimates Jersey in 58-run Oman win

Slingy speedster Munis Ansari produced a yorker barrage that Jersey's batsmen could not answer on his way to claiming 5 for 27 and Man-of-the-Match honours in Oman's 58-run win at St Saviour. Ansari took two wickets in his first spell, including the key scalp of Jersey captain Peter Gough for 17, before returning to spark a hasty conclusion with three more as Jersey fell from 143 for 5 to 147 all out in pursuit of Oman's 205 for 9.

Jersey's middle order produced a resilient fightback after the team had slipped to 43 for 4 during Ansari's first spell, in which he also claimed Cornelis Bodenstein caught behind for a duck. Jonty Jenner and Anthony Hawkins-Kay added 39 for the fifth wicket to give Jersey a bit of hope before Jenner slammed a full and wide ball straight back at left-arm spinner Aamir Kaleem, who took a stunning return catch for his second wicket to make it 82 for 5 one ball into the 24th over.

Hawkins-Kay grinded his way through the next 10 overs with an able ally in Luke Gallichan, who made 30 as part of a 61-run sixth-wicket stand. After bowling five overs earlier, Ansari came back for a second spell to start the 33rd over and the pair was able to negotiate him safely for his first two overs of the spell, but a key moment occurred on the first ball of Ansari's eighth over, the 37th, that contributed to the breakdown of the partnership.

Hawkins-Kay was on strike and clipped a single off Ansari through the leg side. Gallichan wanted to push for two but when he was turned down, he tweaked his left calf muscle while trying to get back to his crease. Gallichan took a single off the next ball, after playing to third man, but hobbled all the way down the pitch and needed treatment from the physio, resulting in a seven-minute break before he decided to continue batting. After one more single by Hawkins-Kay, Gallichan came back on strike and, with his footwork now limited, he was promptly bowled by an Ansari yorker.

Charles Perchard arrived and fell to another Ansari toe-crusher but Jake Dunford was able to keep out Ansari's hat-trick ball. Three balls into the 38th over, Hawkins-Kay's dogged stay ended for 45 when he was adjudged to have edged one down the leg side off Rajeshkumar Ranpura that was spectacularly caught by Swapnil Khadye. Ansari started his final over by yorking Ben Kynman for his fifth wicket before Ranpura ended the match nine balls later, getting the injured Rhys Palmer to edge to Kaleem at second slip.

Palmer's health was a point of contention before the start of play when he suffered a knee injury while warming up after Jersey had won the toss and opted to field. The Jersey team management requested to have Palmer changed out of the XI after he had initially been included but Oman captain Ajay Lalcheta declined, as is his right under ICC playing conditions. Palmer took 3 for 29 in the rain-affected first encounter between the two sides on Saturday which ended with no result, and his absence deprived Jersey of a specialist spinner on a track offering plenty of turn.

Zeeshan Maqsood's 69 paced Oman's innings though the rest of the top order struggled for the third match in a row. Maqsood made his half-century off 73 balls, though he was dropped in back-to-back overs on 35 and 36 by the wicketkeeper Dunford, first standing up to Perchard's medium pace and then to left-arm spinner Ben Stevens.

Maqsood combined with Jatinder Singh for a 78-run third wicket partnership after Jatinder came in at 48 for 2 in the 17th over to give Oman a necessary platform for a defendable total. Perchard eventually nabbed Maqsood to end the 39th over, this time inducing an edge held on to by Dunford after Maqsood was cramped trying to cut. It was the third wicket in a patch that saw Oman lose four wickets for 17 runs, to shift momentum Jersey's way. After Hawkins-Kay took one wicket in his opening spell, he came back late to claim Sunday's high-scorer, Kaleem, for just 12 to make it 163 for 7.

But Jersey's focus lapsed over the final two overs as tailenders Khadye and Ranpura added 27 runs - including a six by each batsmen off consecutive balls to end the 49th and start the 50th over. Hawkins-Kay finished with Jersey's best figures of 2 for 18, while spinners Stevens and Nat Watkins also took two each in the loss.