Thursday 14 / November / 2024
Muscat: Oman's star of the ICC World T20 Tournament Amir Ali will be missed as the national cricket team embarks on a mission to climb up the ladder in the World Cricket League (WCL).
Oman led by skipper Ajay Lalcheta will be participating in the WCL Division 5 to be held in Jersey from May 21 to 28.
Oman will be vying for honours with teams like hosts Jersey, Tanzania, Nigeria, Guernsay and Vanuatu in a 50-over format.
The two finalists of the ICC WCL Division 5 will earn a promotion to Division 4, which is scheduled to be played later in the year.
Amir Ali's man of the match innings against Ireland in the World T20 at Dharamsala still wins him rave reviews worldwide and his sheer batting power will be missed by the team in Jersey.
However, Amir Ali, who has a fracture in his right hand after suffering an injury during the Oman Cricket knockout tournament, has been replaced by Noorul Riaz, another batsman of merit who has proved his mettle in the domestic league.
The replacement was confirmed by coach and Oman Cricket's Chief Development Officer Duleep Mendis on Monday.
"Amir is injured and recovery appears remote hence we replaced him with Noorul," said Mendis.
"Adnan Ilyas and Shuaib Al Balushi have also opted out of the team," the coach added.
Meanwhile, it was also learnt that Arun Poulose, Mohammed Nadeem and Twinkle Bhandari (the latter was not in the list of probables announced earlier) will not be part of the touring party.
"Poulose, Nadeem and Bhandari are not in the fourteen travelling to Jersey, but Zeeshan Siddiqui who replaced Shuaib in the probable list during the training session is among the list," confirmed Mendis.
With Sultan Ahmed too not considered, Swapnil Khadya will don the gloves with vice-captain Jatinder Singh acting as the second wicket-keeper.
Referring to the team composition, Mendis said: "With all the seven-year and four-year rules of the ICC this is the best available team we can decide upon."
"Only two players coming under the four-year rule can play this tournament and we thought these are the players who could fit in," he added.
Duleep confident
On Oman's chances of gaining promotion to Division 4, Mendis exuded confidence, but he offered a word of caution as well.
"But for Jersey, the other teams in fray are purely unknowns and we cannot approach them as mere pushovers. However, I think we can make it to the next level," Mendis detailed.
In the tournament to be played in a round robin format followed by a knockout stages, Oman are scheduled to start their campaign on May 21 with a match against hosts Jersey.
On May 22, Oman will clash with Nigeria and that will be followed by matches against Vanuatu on May 24, Tanzania on May 25 and Guernsey on May 27.
The classification matches as well as the final will be played on May 28.
Following are the 14-member team travelling to Jersey: Ajay Lalcheta (captain), Jatinder Singh (vice-captain), Munis Ansari, Rajesh Ranpura, Sufyan Mahmood, Bilal Khan, Khawar Ali, Zeeshan Maqsood, Aamir Kaleem, Noorul Riaz, Mehran Khan, Swapnil Khadye (wicketkeeper), Vaibhav Wategaonkar and Zeeshan Siddiqui.
Fixtures:
May 21: Jersey vs Oman; Nigeria vs Tanzania; Guernsey vs Vanuatu.
May 22: Jersey vs Vanuatu; Guernsey vs Tanzania; Nigeria vs Oman.
May 24: Jersey vs Tanzania; Guernsey vs Nigeria; Oman vs Vanuatu.
May 25: Oman vs Tanzania; Jersey vs Guernsey; Nigeria vs Vanuatu.
May 27: Tanzania vs Vanuatu; Jersey vs Nigeria; Guernsey vs Oman.
May 28: 5th place playoff, 3rd place playoff and Final.
