Oman is all set for another shot in ICC World Cricket League (WCL) Division 2 in 2019. Their last outing in Division 2 in 2018 in Namibia didn’t go according to plan as they had a pretty disappointing campaign and ended up getting relegated to Division 3.
But that was last year. A year in which they got back their place in Division 2 via a successful Division 3 tournament they got to host at home. Come 2019 and will they be able to change their fortunes in Division 2 this time around?? a tough question to answer as the opponents will be different than the last time except the host’s Namibia. And they have played USA quite a lot in the past 12-18 months now. But barring that, the rest of the field will be new for head coach Duleep Mendis to ponder about.
The squad is somewhat a settled unit with the core of the squad built around 6/7 seasoned players and the onus will be on them to deliver the goods this time around. After all, it’s a matter of finishing among the top 4 amongst themselves, Namibia, USA, Hong Kong, Papua New Guinea and Canada and get the opportunity to play in the 7-nation inaugural ICC CWC League 2 with ODI status until 2022 ICC World Cup Qualifiers.
A T20I quadrangular series saw Oman take on Ireland, Scotland and Netherlands at home in Jan 2019 followed by a 50-overs (List-A) series against Scotland. Zeeshan Maqsood and Aqib Illyas, who missed the tournaments, are back in the squad for WCL Division 2.
Oman Squad for ICC WCL Division 2:
Zeeshan Maqsood (Captain), Khawar Ali, Khurram Nawaz Khan, Jatinder Singh, Sandeep Shreemanthula, Badal Singh, Sindo Moonamchery, Muhammad Nadeem Bhalli, Kaleem Ullah, Bilal Khan, Fayyaz Butt, Aqib Illyas, Suraj Ks, Jay Odedra & Sufyan Mahmood
