Tuesday 02 / July / 2024
MUSCAT: Oman is one of the most improved cricketing nations according to the International Cricket Council's (ICC) CEO.
In an interview with the Times of Oman, ICC CEO Dave Richardson said, "Oman is one of the countries that has made significant progress over the last few years. If you go back four, five years, Oman would have done well to say that they were in the top 35 member countries and now they are very much in the top 20.
"Not only on the field but off the field Oman is progressing well," he added.
Richardson is in Oman as a special guest to attend the opening of the ICC World Cricket League (Division 3) tournament currently being hosted by the Sultanate of Oman.
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Oman face five other teams in a round-robin competition from November 9-19, 2018.
"You talk about progress being made and a few years back you would have just seen the brown fields, as they referred to the sand outfields, and the artificial turf pitches, that was all that was available. Now you've got two, top-class turf wickets. A magnificent clubhouse," said Richardson about the Oman's cricketing facilities.
Besides Oman, the World Cricket League (Division 3) competition will feature the USA, Uganda, Singapore, Denmark, and Kenya. Oman will face off against Kenya in the opening game.
The top two teams will go to World Cricket League (Division 2), which will be held next year in Namibia. The top four teams from that tournament will then go on to the Cricket World Cup League Two, where they can win direct qualification to the 2023 ICC World Cup, which will be held in India.
Richardson cited Afghanistan as a model for the Sultanate's potential rise up the ranks of world cricket.
"It sounds a long way off in this point in time, but keep in mind that Afghanistan are a great example of a team that went from I think World Cricket League Division 6 all the way up and are participating at the highest level and became a full member of ICC."
As cricket growth and development around the world continues, Richardson is eyeing the Middle East as a major player in the future of the sport.
Richardson added, "The Middle East generally is a target market for us, as far as Cricket Development is concerned, and Oman and the UAE in particular are the strongest countries in the region."
The former Proteas wicketkeeper, who played 42 Tests and 122 ODIs between 1992 and 1998, is highly optimistic about future tournaments in Oman.
"Yes there will be more opportunities in the future for sure," he said.
"And there will be more opportunities than ever before in that, now, every country has T20I status, so there are opportunities not only to play international tournaments but also bilateral
series or tri-series with other member countries and call them proper internationals.
The other aspect of course, next year we want to roll out a mass participation programme for young kids, boys and girls, to be introduced to cricket. If we get programmes into schools, I think it will be a game-changer for cricket in the region and in particular in Oman.
But once you get more people playing, you need more facilities, to look after them, so I see these facilities will be put to great use in the years to come."
The ICC boss sees a very bright future for the sport in the region.
"As I said, Middle East is one of our target areas, mainly through the South Asian diaspora that lives in countries like Oman,”
“But we hope that the fever will catch on and cricket will become, as I say, a sport enjoyed by the world in the not too distant future."
