Eddie Norfolk
The headline from a recent article on the Oman cricket website states “Oman picks strong squad for WCL Division Two”. The article tells us Oman has a combination of “mature heads”, “several quality all-rounders” and “no dearth of firebrand match winners…..who can turn a game anyday with their strokeplay” and a balanced bowling attack. Some of the bowling specialists “can be explosive with the bat too on their day.”
A different article tells how Oman has “hired expert” coaches who are “trying to turn Oman’s ‘good chaps’ into champions. Sri Lankan international Duleep Mendis (24 tests, 79 ODIs) is Oman’s Head Coach. Ruwan Kalpage (11 tests and 86 ODIs) has been brought in as a specialist fielding and spin bowling coach. Anusha Samaranayake, a past Sri Lankan fast-bowling coach, has been added to help Oman’s fast bowlers develop.
Canada’s squad has working knowledge of Oman from the 2017 ICC World Cricket League (WCL) Division 3 where Canada and Oman ended in the top two positions after the round robin matches and so gained promotion to this year’s ICC WCL Division 2 in Namibia
Oman squad: Sultan Ahmed (captain, RHB, wicketkeeper), Zeeshan Maqsood (vice-captain, LHB, SLA), Jatinder Singh (RHB, OB), Aquib Ilyas (RHB, OB), Khawar Ali (RHB, LB), Vaibhav Wategaonkar (LHB), Ajay Lalcheta (LHB, SLA), Mohammed Nadeem (RHB, RM), Jay Odedera (RHB, RM), Bilal Khan (LHB, LMF), Swapnil Khadye (RHB, wkt), Mohammed Naseem Khushi (RHB, wkt), Kaleemullah (RHB, RM) and Ahmad Fayyaz Butt (RHB, RM; aka Fiaz Butt).
Reserves: Sufyan Mahmood (LHB, RM), Nestar Dhamba (RHB, OB), Badal Singh and Mehran Khan (RHB, RM).
Officials: Madhursinh Jesrani (Manager), Pankaj Khimji (Chef de Mission), Duleep Mendis (Coach), Mazhar Saleem Khan (Assistant coach), Ruwan Kalpage (Expert coach), Anusha Samaranayake (Expert coach), Premnath (Physio) and Nandisha (Analyst).
Duleep Mendis scored 66 for Sri Lanka against Canada in the final of the 1979 ICC Trophy. An age before Sri Lanka was granted ICC Full Member status. Mendis went on to captain Sri Lanka in Test and ODI cricket. He played in for the Rest of the World XI against West Indies in the November 1989 United Way Cricket game at the then SkyDome in Toronto. Duleep Mendis clipped 65 runs that day in a team that included current Canada Under-19 coach Farouq Kirmani.
Summary scores and highlights from Oman’s international matches, mostly from the last year, are included as a guide to Oman’s performances on the field as a team and individually. These include some T20 scores from the 2016 World T20 where Oman beat Ireland in the initial group stage and the 2017 Desert T20.
Oman’s Recent Results
Oman won promotion from ICC World Cricket League Division 4 in 2016, together with host USA, then secured further promotion with top spot in ICC WCL Division 3 that was played in Uganda during May 2017. Canada was also promoted in May 2017 after sinking into WCL Division 3, along with Uganda, in (month year) as a result of the (2015 ICC WCL Division 2).
Oman won all three games when the USA visited Oman in December 2017.
Canada beat Oman in the round-robin phase of 2017 WCL Division 3 but finished second in the round-robin standings behind Oman. Canada hit 274/9 from 50 overs in the round-robin match, then bowled out Oman for 191 after 40.5 overs to win by 83 runs. This was Oman’s only loss in the tournament.
After beating Oman in the round robin stage of WCL Division Three, Canada went on to lose by 6 wickets to Malaysia and lost by 2 runs to Singapore. Canada beat Uganda by 66 runs and beat USA by 96 runs. Three wins and two losses matched Singapore’s record but Canada had a better net run rate so placed second in the round-robin standings.
The playoff game to decide first place between Canada and Oman on May 30, 2017 in Kampala was abandoned as a no result. Canada scored 176/3 from 38 overs. Oman responded with 50/2 after 4.3 overs before rain prevented any further play in an innings reduced to 24 overs.
The UAE played a three game series with Oman before the 2017 ICC WCL. UAE won the first two games but Oman won the third game by 38 runs.
Oman in T20 cricket
Oman played in the initial group stage of 2016 ICC World T20 but failed to reach the Super 10 stage. Oman also played in the Desert T20 in the UAE in January 2017.
Oman beat Ireland by 2 wickets in Group A of the 2016 World T20 then had a game with the Netherlands washed out without a ball being bowled. Oman struggled in the last group game to 65/9 from 12 overs (target 120) after Bangladesh hit 180/2 from 20 overs. Tamim Iqbal struck 103* for Bangladesh.
In the 2017 Desert T20 Oman lost to the Netherlands with 4 balls to spare, then raced to a ten wicket win after 11 overs against Hong Kong but then lost to Scotland by 7 wickets with one over remaining. Oman’s record earned a semi-final appearance against Afghanistan. Ireland beat Scotland in the other semi-final but Ireland stumbled to just 71 all out in the final and Afghanistan won convincingly by ten wickets.
Oman’s 2017 WCL Division 3 Results
First-place Playoff
May 30, 2017
Canada 176/3 (38 ov; Bhavindu Adhihetty 86, Nitish Kumar 50) v Oman 50/2 (4.3 ov of 24 ov; Zeeshan Maqsood 32) – No Result
Round-Robin Matches
May 29, 2017
Oman 293/7 (50 ov; Naseem Khushi 77*, Aquib Ilyas 61, Sultan Ahmed 52, Jatinder Singh 44) beat Malaysia 162 (33.1 ov; Khawar Ali 5/23, 8.1 ov, M Ansari 4/47, 9 ov) by 131 runs
May 27, 2017
Singapore 100 (37.1 ov; Bilal Khan 5/19, 7.1 ov) lost to Oman 101/5 (24.1 ov; AV Lalcheta 37, Sultan Ahmed 32) by 5 wickets
May 26, 2017
Uganda 144 (46.3 ov; Bilal Khan 3/28, 9 ov. Zeeshan Maqsood 3/34, 10 ov) lost to Oman 145/4 (27 ov; Jatinder Singh 58) by 6 wickets
May 24, 2017
Canada 274/9 (50 ov; Rizwan Cheema 42, Bhavindu Adhihetty 44, Nikhil Dutta 41, Hamza Tariq 34, Nitish Kumar 33, Navi Dhaliwal 31) beat Oman 191 (40.5 ov; Zeeshan Maqsood 63, AV Lalcheta 39, Sultan Ahmed 30*, Satsimranjit Dhindsa 3/50, 7.5 ov) by 83 runs
May 23, 2017
USA 180/7 (43 ov; Khawar Ali 3/27, 9 ov) lost to Oman 184/6 (39.4 ov of 43 ov; Aqib Ilyas 55, Zeeshan Maqsood 46, Mohammad Nadeem 30) D/L method
Oman’s target was 184.
USA in Oman: December 2017
The USA played a 3 game series with Oman in December 2017. Both teams had been promoted from ICC WCL Division 4 to WCL Division 3 in 2016.
Dec 7, 2017
USA 222 (49.3 ov; Fiaz Butt 3/43, 9.3 ov) lost to Oman 224/7 (46.4 ov; Aquib Ilyas 65, Khawar Ali 45, Zeeshan Maqsood 38 )
Dec 5, 2017
Oman 189/9 (50 ov; Arun Poulose 39, Jatinder Singh 39, J Odedra 38) beat USA 100 (40.1 ov, Khawar Ali 3/21, 10 ovs) by 89 runs
Dec 4, 2017
Oman 225 (49.5 ov; VS Wategaonkar 72, AV Lalcheta 33, Aquib Ilyas 31) beat USA 108 (30.4 ov; JA Odeda 3/29 (8 ov) by 117 runs
UAE in Oman: April/May 2017
May 4, 2017
Oman 253/8 (50 ov; Zeeshan Maqsood 73, Aquib Ilyas 36, Mohammad Nadeem 33, Sultan Ahmed 30, Rohan Mustafa 3/51, 10 ov)
UAE 215 (45.5 ov; Ghulam Shabber 50, Muhammad Usman 47, Rameez Shahzad 32, Mohammad Nadeem 4/25, 5 ov)
Result: Oman won by 38 runs
May 2, 2017
UAE 208 (49.4 ov; Rohan Mustafa 45, Adnan Mufti 42, Khawar Ali 3/23, 5 ovs)
Oman 203 (47.4 ov; Aqib Ilyas 80, Mohammad Nadeem 35, Mohammad Naveed 3/42, 9 ov) Result: UAE won by 5 runs
Apr 30, 2017
Oman 138 (44.5 ov; Aquib Ilyas 44, Mohammad Naveed 3/40, 8.5 ov) UAE 139/2 (23.5 ov; Ghulam Shabber 51*, Mohammed Qasim 48) Result: UAE won by 8 wickets.
A bonus- video of two more of Canada’s opponents – UAE v Nepal