Lorcan Tucker produced a Man-of-the-Match display as Ireland kept alive their T20 World Cup hopes with a 96-run demolition of Oman in Colombo.

The stand-in skipper would have been a little concerned as veteran left-arm spinner Shakeel Ahmed took three wickets in the powerplay, and when Curtis Campher went cheaply the furrowed brows were even deeper at a precarious 64 for 4.

"I'd rather have lucky generals than good ones," opined Napoleon Bonaparte, and Tucker showed he may fit into that category when he was reprieved on 18 after a leg-side stumping review showed the Omani keeper hadn't the ball in the right glove.

Gareth Delany joined Tucker and the two Dubliners feasted on what was in truth some buffet bowling from a variety of gentle medium-pacers, two of which were in their fifth decade. Nathan Johns on BBC TMS remarking that 12 overs of Oman spin returned four wickets for 97, while 8 overs of medium-pace disappeared for 138 runs and just one wicket.

The boundaries were peppered as the pair shared a match-defining fifth wicket stand of 101 in 56 balls with Tucker's 51-ball unbeaten 94 (10 fours, four sixes) surpassing Curtis Campher as an Irish T20 World Cup record.

Delany targeted the straight boundaries clearing the ropes four times in a 30-ball 56, but if Oman thought his dismissal would bring some relief, they were quickly dissuaded from that notion by the arrival of George Dockrell to the middle.

After Tector took 26 from the 18th over he looked set for a remarkable century, but couldn't quite get there falling six short.

Not that it mattered to the final total as Dockrell clubbed five sixes - three consecutively from the final balls of the innings to finish on a nine--ball unbeaten 35.

The sixth wicket stand was worth 70 in a scarcely believable 19-balls of mayhem and carnage bordering on elder abuse as Ireland ended on their record team total of 235 for 5.

Matthew Humphreys struck early in the chase, quickly followed by a Harry Tector run-out, but to their credit Oman kept swinging, helped by an at times wayward seam attack that bowled too short. There were missed chances too, a plague that had probably ended Ireland's Super Eight's hopes.

It looked as if Oman - led by a spirited half-century from Aamer Kaleem, who at 44 before the oldest to reach that landmark at a World Cup - would get within a reasonable distance of their mammoth target.

However, once Barry McCarthy broke the third wicket stand of 73 between Kaleem and Hammad Mirza (46), the wheels came off the Omani chase.

Josh Little had his mojo back and the left-armer bowled with pace and control in taking three wickets, while there were second scalps for both Humphreys and McCarthy in the 96-run margin that took their nett-run-rate into positive territory.

Little's re-emergence is timely, and you can't help but wonder if he should have been given a starting berth given his 'point of difference' and natural inclination to save his best for the big stage. Having played in the IPL and the Hundred, it's hard to get motivated playing Italy in an empty stadium in the middle of the Dubai desert.

The win gives a timely and much needed boost for a campaign that has been low on joy and largely under the radar back home.

A victory over Zimbabwe on Tuesday may not be enough to make the next phase, but it may help restore the pride and faith of the cricketing fraternity.