Oman Cricket set for big boost

(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Oman status as a cricket host and an emerging team on the Asian circuit will be put to test in the coming months as not only will Muscat be the venue of the ICC World Cricket League (WCL) Division Three tournament in November but may also host a triangular or a quadrangular T20I series in February next year.

On the field, Duleep Mendis' men will hope to gain promotion in the six-nation ICC WCL Division at home and will also be in action at the second ACC Emerging Nations Cup 2018, to be co-hosted by Pakistan and Sri Lanka, in December.

Speaking at the Oman Cricket (OC) annual awards ceremony on Wednesday, Pankaj Khimji, OC board member, said, 'Ireland has confirmed its trip in February for a T20I series. We have also got the boards of the Netherlands, Scotland and Hong Kong expressing their interest to visit around the same time. I hope we could organise a triangular or a quadrangular series once we get the confirmation from the respective nations.'

'Also the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Emerging Nations Cup will give us a platform to test ourselves against the big boys, like India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. This is our moment of reckoning,' said Pankaj, who praised the team's performance over the past few years.

The eight-nation tournament will be contested by U23 teams of the five Test-playing nations and three Associate members.

Oman qualified for theACC Emerging Nations Cup after finishing third, behind Hong Kong and UAE, in the Asia Cup Qualifiers 2018, held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia last month.

During his keynote address, Pankaj said the highlight of the year was OC's opening of the Oman Cricket Academy (OCA) and its clubhouse. However, the official inauguration of the OCA, will be done in the coming weeks.

'We proudly hosted the ICC World Cup Trophy. It was a trip for Oman Cricket to remember as it was the first stop of the global tour,' he said.

Ayaan, Khawar, Sanuth get top prizes Muscat CT's Ayaan Khan was declared the Premier Division's Player of the Year for the

2017-18 season while Enhance's Khawar Ali and Sanuth Ebrahim were adjudged the best batsman and the best bowler in the top-flight league on Wednesday. Khan was also adjudged the best allrounder in the Premier Division.

Leading the honours for Omani cricketers playing for more than one team, were Shuaib al Balushi (OCT Muscat and White Lotus) and Sufyan Mahmood (Enhance and Oct Seeb), who won the best batsman and best bowler awards respectively. Shuaib also collected the best allrounder award.

H E Sheikh Saad al Saadi, Minister of Sports Affairs, who was the chief guest, presented the awards in the presence of Kanak Khimji, OC chairman and other board members.

Assarain manager Vinu Mathew received the 2017-18 Premier Division League trophy while the Premier Division T20 trophy was received by Passage to India owner K K Mohandas.

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