Ireland’s William Porterfield (left), fields during the ICC World Twenty20 2016 cricket tournament against Oman at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) Stadium in Dharmsala, India on March 9. (AP)

DHARAMSALA, India, March 9, (AFP): World Twenty20 debutants Oman stunned Ireland by two wickets in a thrilling last-over finish on Wednesday with lower-order batsman Aamer Ali’s 32-run blitz achieving the target with two balls to spare.

Oman openers Zeeshan Maqsood and Khawal Ali provided a 69-run opening stand only to see the middle-order give it away with the side reeling at 90 for five after 14 overs.

Aamer, who hit five boundaries and a six in his 17-ball stay, then stitched a crucial sixth-wicket stand with Jatinder Singh as Irish medium-pacer Max Sorensen failed to stop 14 runs from the last over.

It was indeed a great achievement for the Sultan Ahmed-led side, which mostly consists of Indian and Pakistani expats.

“We were trying to get boundaries every over. We have done a lot of hard work before coming to the World Cup, and finally it has paid off,” 37-year-old Ali told cricinfo.com through a translator.

Earlier, Bangladesh secured a narrow win against a spirited Netherlands.

Opener Tamim Iqbal struck an unbeaten 83 before the bowlers secured an eight-run win. Put into bat, Bangladesh suffered from a lack of partnerships but Tamim, with his fourth T20 half-century, almost single-handedly lifted the score to 153 for seven. It was a disappointing show of batting from a side which sparkled in the recently concluded Asia Cup, where the hosts ended runners-up after a keenly contested final against India. Tamin though remained unaffected with the wicket-fall as the left-hander smacked six boundaries and three sixes during his 58-ball stay.

The Dutch batsmen also put up a brave show to give Bangladesh a run for their money but ultimately experience prevailed and the minnows were restricted to 145 for seven in their 20 overs.

Mashrafe Morataza-led Bangladesh are favourites to top their group and move into the Super 10 stage of the 16-team event.

Scotland will play Zimbabwe, while Afghanistan are slated to meet Hong Kong in the two Group B matches on Thursday.

Meanwhile, all-rounder Ben Stokes led calls among teammates Wednesday for England to form its own franchise-based Twenty20 league, saying the pioneer of the game’s most popular format was now lagging behind its rivals.

While nearly all the other Test playing nations now have city-based T20 leagues featuring no more than eight teams, England’s T20 Blast is played by the 18 counties which compete in a parallel four-day championship.

Critics say the bloated format has led to a watering-down in quality and explains the tournament’s failure to attract as many big-name foreign stars as appear in India or Australia. T20 tournaments such as the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Australia’s Big Bash League are made up of city-based franchises such as the Delhi Daredevils and Sydney Sixers which frequently draw sell-out crowds.

The powerful Stokes, who had a stint playing for the Melbourne Renegades in the 2015 Big Bash League, told reporters in Mumbai that it was high time England rethought the structure of its domestic T20 competition.

“England Twenty20 is far behind everywhere else. The other competitions attract the biggest players so we don’t get an opportunity to play against these guys whereas everywhere else over the world they do,” he said.

“England I think are well behind other teams in terms of experience so it would be nice to see something like that happen in England.

“I don’t know when it will happen if it ever does but I think it’s something that does need to happen ... It will give us a chance to be a more successful team, especially in these world competitions.”

Stokes was speaking at a press briefing given by the England team competing in the World T20 taking place in India over the next month.

Although England won the tournament in 2010, they often struggle to make an impression in T20 cricket and are fifth in the world rankings.

Stokes’ teammate David Willey, who played for the Perth Scorchers in this year’s Big Bash League, said the quality of cricket in Australia had helped his development as a player.

“The competition in the Big Bash was outstanding. The way the competition was run and the standard of cricket was fantastic,” he said.

“I think it’s a real good model for English cricket to use and I think the sooner that English cricket can go to that franchise system the better.”

T20 matches were first staged in England back in 2003 and it was another five years before the IPL was set up and went on to become cricket’s most lucrative tournament.