(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Oman cricket (OC) has decided to rope in top overseas coaches in a bid to help the national team prepare for next year's ICC World Twenty20 in India.
Preliminary talks have begun with renowned bowling and fielding coaches as well as fitness experts from the Indian subcontinent for two short training stints in Muscat during October and January.
Duleep Mendis the national team's coach and OC's Chief Development Officer (CDO) told Muscat Daily 'We are going to bring in a top bowling coach and a fielding coach apart from an expert fitness trainer. We plan to have two separate training spells with these experts.
'The first camp will take place in October lasting about ten days. They will then return to Muscat in January next year for another similar spell.'
The move to hire experts for short stints comes following the successful spell that former England player Derek Pringle had with the Oman team in the lead-up to the World T20 qualifiers in Scotland-Ireland in July.
'We had brought in Derek [as technical advisor] at that time because he could help the boys with the local conditions there' said Mendis.
'Similarly we will now rope in experts with knowledge of Indian conditions.'
The deals with the experts are yet to be finalised as OC is checking out their availability for the proposed dates. 'We will finalise the agreements in the next two weeks' Mendis said.
Oman has been pooled alongside seven other teams in the opening round of the 2016 World T20 which will be played from March 11-April 3.
Mendis' men qualified for the T20 worlds for the first time with a top-six finish in the 14-team qualifying tournament last month.
A former Sri Lankan Test star Mendis also sketched out his team's schedule in the build-up to the World T20. The highlight of the tune-up will be an ICC-conducted preparatory tournament that will be played in Dubai UAE in November.
'More than anything else our team needs a good amount of tournament experience and match practice where the players can take on tough rivals like teams having ODI status' said Mendis.
'The scheduled ICC tournament which is part of its High Performance Programme gives us exactly that opportunity. We expect to play against Afghanistan Hong Kong Nepal and UAE in that event which will be beneficial for our boys.'
Oman had defeated Canada The Netherlands and Afghanistan in successive matches in the qualifying tournament in July.
The national team players are currently on a break and will resume training by the end of September.
Following the ICC event the team will travel for a fortnight-long conditioning trip to India in December.
The team will leave for the T20 World Cup in early February. 'It's crucial for the team to arrive early in India' Mendis said. 'We would like to give the players nearly a month's time to get used to the conditions there.'
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