Oman national cricket team

Oman
Association Oman Cricket Board
ICC status Affiliate (2000)
Associate (2014)
ICC region Asian Cricket Council
WCL 2016 Division Four
Coach Duleep Mendis
Captain Ajay Lalcheta
First international
Oman Oman v. UAE 
(Singapore; 10 July 2002)
List A debut
Oman Oman v. Scotland 
(Belfast, Northern Ireland; 1 July 2005)
Twenty20 debut
Oman Oman v. Italy 
(Dubai, UAE; 13 March 2012)
World Cup Qualifier
Appearances 2 (first in 2005)
Best result First round (2005, 2009)
World Twenty20
Appearances 1 (first in 2016)
Best result Group Stage (2016)
As of 3 April 2016

The Oman national cricket team represents the Sultanate of Oman in international cricket matches. The Oman Cricket Board became an affiliate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2000, and gained associate status in 2014. The national side has played matches at both list-A and twenty20 level.

Oman's first competitive matches came at the 2002 ACC Trophy, and the side has since participated in most non-Test-level Asian Cricket Council tournaments, finishing runner-up in the 2004 ACC Trophy and twice winning the ACC Twenty20 Cup. Oman has twice participated in the final qualification process for the World Cup without qualifying for the final tournament, placing ninth at the 2005 ICC Trophy and eleventh at the 2009 World Cup Qualifier. Oman has also participated in the qualification process for the World Twenty20, without success, placing fifteenth at the 2012 World Twenty20 Qualifier.

Most cricket in Oman is played by expatriate Indians and Pakistanis (and their descendants), rather than by native Omanis – in 2010, only 100 of the 780 players in the national league were Arabs, or around 13 percent.[1] The composition of the Omani national side has generally reflected this, although several Arabs have appeared for the team. Quotas of Arab players have been introduced for both club teams and the national side, in order to boost cricket's popularity amongst the Arab population.

In July 2015, with their win against Namibia in the 2015 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier, Oman gained Twenty20 International status and qualified for 2016 T20 World Cup in India.[2]

History

Early years and ICC membership

Oman became an affiliate member of the ICC in 2000. Their senior international debut came at the 2002 ACC Trophy where they failed to progress beyond the first round, with their only win coming against Qatar. A huge improvement was shown in the 2004 tournament when they reached the final, where they lost against the United Arab Emirates. This qualified them for the 2005 ICC Trophy, the final qualification stage for the 2007 World Cup. It also qualified them for the Asia Cup in 2006. Later in 2004, they won the Middle East Cup after a tied game against Bahrain. They won the tournament as they beat Bahrain in the group stage. In the 2014 ACC Premier League in Malaysia they reached 4th place with three wins.

2005 ICC Trophy and aftermath

In 2005, Oman became the first affiliate member of the ICC to compete in the ICC Trophy. They lost all their group games, but then won their play-off games against Uganda and the USA, the latter when they successfully chased down a mammoth target of 345, featuring an unbroken 127-run partnership for the eighth wicket. This gave them ninth place out of the twelve teams in the competition, enough to earn a place in Division Two of the ICC World Cricket League in 2007.

2006 saw a drop in form for Oman, as they were eliminated in the first round of the ACC Trophy, with their only win coming against the Maldives. As mentioned above, they were originally scheduled to participate in the Asia Cup in 2006, playing their first ODIs against Pakistan and India. However this tournament was postponed until 2008, and the ACC decided to use the 2006 ACC Trophy as a qualification tournament, meaning that Oman's place was taken by Hong Kong.

2007–2013

In October/November 2007, Oman took part in the inaugural ACC Twenty20 Cup held in Kuwait, where they played in Group A against; Afghanistan, Malaysia, Nepal and Qatar. Oman finished in the top two of their group and qualified for the semi-final stage. Oman beat Kuwait in their semi-final, then shared the tournament after the final match against Afghanistan was tied.

In November 2007, Oman travelled to Namibia to take part in Division Two of the ICC World Cricket League. They played Denmark, the hosts and the UAE in addition to the two qualifiers from Division Three; Uganda and Argentina. Although Oman won all their group matches, they lost to the UAE in the final. On the basis of their top four finish in this tournament, Oman qualified for the ICC World Cup Qualifier in 2009, the final tournament in qualification for the 2011 World Cup.

In January 2009, Oman participated in the ACC Cup, Challenge tournament in Chiang Mai, Thailand. They came first with ease, defeating the Maldives and Bhutan in the Semi finals and finals respectively. The fourth favourites to win the cup were hosts, Thailand who ended up in fourth place.

In April 2009, Oman travelled to South Africa to participate in the ICC World Cup Qualifier, the final tournament in qualification for the 2011 World Cup. During the tournament Oman finished last in their group and in the 11th place playoff they beat Denmark by 5 wickets.

In the 2009 ACC Twenty20 Cup, Oman were drawn in Group B. In the group stages of the competition it won all five of its games, finishing top of the group and qualifying for the semi-finals. In the semi-finals it lost to the United Arab Emirates, therefore missing out on a chance to win back-to-back titles. In the third place playoff, it defeated Kuwait. This victory enabled Oman to claim the final qualifying spot for the cricket tournament at the 2010 Asian Games. They played in 2011 ICC World Cricket League Division Three, where they came 3rd to remain in 2013 ICC World Cricket League Division Three.

2014 onwards: associate membership and T20I status

At the ICC Annual Conference, held in Melbourne, Australia, in June 2014, the Oman Cricket Board was upgraded from an affiliate member of the ICC to an associate member.[3] That announcement came during the 2014 WCL Division Four, where Oman placed fifth to be relegated to the 2016 Division Five event. Despite the team's poor performance in the 50-over format, Oman went on to win its next major international tournament, the 2015 ACC Twenty20 Cup, thus qualifying for 2015 World Twenty20 Qualifier in Ireland and Scotland.[4]

By defeating Namibia in a sudden-death match at the World Twenty20 Qualifier, Oman reached the top six teams at the tournament, thus qualifying for the 2016 World Twenty20 and gaining Twenty20 International status until at least 2019.[5] The team made its T20I debut in the fifth-place play-off against Afghanistan, and later in the year played bilateral T20I series against Afghanistan, Hong Kong, and United Arab Emirates. In 2016 Oman appeared at the 2016 World Twenty20 in India and at the 2016 Asia Cup Qualifier.[6]

Tournament history

ICC World Twenty20

World Cricket League

ICC Trophy/World Cup Qualifier

ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier

ACC Trophy

ACC Twenty20 Cup

Asian Games

Current squad

Oman's squad at their most recent tournament, the 2015 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier,[7] and 2016 ICC World Twenty20 tournament.[8][9]

Name Age Batting style Bowling style SN Note
Captain
Ajay Lalcheta 32 Left-handed Slow left-arm orthodox 77
Vice-captain
Jatinder Singh 27 Right-handed Right-arm off-break 10
Batsmen
Aamir Kaleem 34 Left-handed Slow left-arm orthodox 13
Aamer Ali 37 Right-handed Right-arm off-break 22
Arun Poulose 29 Right-handed Right-arm medium
Vaibhav Wategaonkar 33 Left-handed n/a
Khawar Ali 30 Right-handed Right-arm leg-break 68
Wicket-keeper
Sultan Ahmed 38 Left-handed n/a 7
All-rounder
Mehran Khan 29 Right-handed n/a
Rajeshkumar Ranpura 32 Left-handed Right-arm medium-fast
Zeeshan Maqsood 28 Left-handed Slow left-arm orthodox 12
Zeeshan Siddiqui 36 Right-handed Right-arm leg-break
Fast-bowler
Munis Ansari 32 Right-handed Right-arm medium-fast 37
Mohammad Nadeem 33 Right-handed Right-arm medium-fast
Sufyan Mehmood 24 Left-handed Right-arm medium-fast
Yousuf Mahmood 26 Right-handed Right-arm medium-fast

Coaching Staff

Records and Statistics

Playing Record
Format M W L T D/NR Inaugural Match
Twenty20 Internationals 13 4 8 0 1 25 July 2015

Last updated 20 April 2016

Twenty20 International

T20I records versus other nations [14]
Opposition M W L T NR First Win
 Afghanistan 4 0 4 0 0 –
 Bangladesh 1 0 1 0 0 –
 Hong Kong 4 3 1 0 0 21 November 2015
 Ireland 1 1 0 0 0 9 March 2016
 Netherlands 1 0 0 0 1 –
 United Arab Emirates 2 0 2 0 0 –

Most T20I runs for Oman[15]

PlayerRunsAverageCareer span
Zeeshan Maqsood 269 24.45 2015–
Adnan Ilyas 258 23.45 2015–
Jatinder Singh 200 18.18 2015–
Khawar Ali 166 18.44 2015-
Aamir Khaleem 161 20.12 2015–

Most T20I wickets for Oman[16]

PlayerWicketsAverageCareer span
Bilal Khan 14 20.21 2015–
Mehran Khan 9 20.66 2015–
Zeeshan Maqsood 8 24.87 2015–
Munis Ansari 8 41.75 2015–
Ajay Lalcheta 7 39.14 2015–

See also

References

  1. ↑ (27 July 2011). "More men in Oman" – Asian Cricket Council. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  2. ↑ "Oman secure World T20 spot with memorable win". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  3. ↑ (26 June 2014). "Oman becomes International Cricket Council associate member" – Times of Oman. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  4. ↑ ACC TWENTY20 CUP, 2014/15 – ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  5. ↑ Peter Della Penna (23 July 2015). "Oman secure World T20 spot with memorable win" – ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  6. ↑ Andrew Nixon (2 November 2015). "Busy month in UAE for associates" – Cricket Europe. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  7. ↑ 2015 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier squad
  8. ↑ "Oman Squad, 2016 ICC World Twenty20". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
  9. ↑ Ajay Lalcheta to captain Oman in World Cricket League Division 5
  10. ↑ Duleep describes India tour as ‘good learning experience’ for Oman team
  11. ↑ "Oman T20I Highest totals". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  12. ↑ "Oman T20I Highest individual score". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  13. ↑ "Oman T20I Best bowling figures in an innings". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  14. ↑ "Oman T20I Result Summary". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
  15. ↑ "Records / Oman / Twenty20 Internationals / Most runs". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  16. ↑ "Records / Oman / Twenty20 Internationals / Most wickets". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
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