MUSCAT: Oman Cricket’s consistent efforts to groom and nurture youngsters have paved the way for cricket legends like Gary Kirsten of South Africa to hold training camps in the Sultanate of Oman.
While domestic training camps and clinics at the Oman Cricket Academy (OCA) premises have been welcomed by the young cricketers and their parents, Oman Cricket has also been working on providing OCA boys international exposure and experience.
The efforts to arrange an overseas trip finally materialized and a group of 20 promising OCA U15 and U19 boys departed on Sunday for an international tour to South Africa.
During their ten-day trip to South Africa, both the squads will compete against local teams as part of the Nelspruit High School (NHS) 2023 Mozzie week.
The popular sports week is organised by the NHS and this year marks the 11th edition of the Mozzie week.
More than 100 cricketers from ten teams are scheduled to take part during the Mozzie week activities, highlighted by Tockie Fourie Super Over competition on July 12 for the U19 boys.
The U15 squad will play five 50-over-a-side games while the U19 side will also play three 50-over-a-side games before rounding off the trip with a T20 game.
Oman Cricket Chief Development Officer Duleep Mendis said: “The trip will give lot of experience to our youngsters. It is a very good opportunity for our boys to play against different teams in South Africa on different wickets. It is a step forward in the development programme for these youngsters. We hope they come back with good experience and exposure.”
U15 squad: Arjun Swamy, Aryan Joshi, Atharv Yadav, Himesh Raj Ravindra, Kanishq Basu, Nimish Dhuri, Shravan Kurup, Vignesh Karthikeyan, Samrudh Shankar, Krish Pawani, Mohammed Punnaki.
U19 squad: Jayesh Mal, Jeet Shah, Kavish Shah, Omidu Medagoda, Thineth Sumanasekara, Varshieth Dinesh, Aditya Gurumukhi, Aryan Bisht, Siddarth Shankar.
Officials: Parviz Al Balushi, Syed Aamir Kaleem, Amir Ali (all coaches), Vinod Mathews (manager).