Following the success of last year's event, Oman Cricket are holding their second All Omani Summer Cricket Tournament. The tournament was set up to increase the playing opportunities for those of Omani origin. "There is an increase in locals playing cricket since last year," say Oman Cricket, and the tournament now has four teams of Arab Omanis compared to last year's three.

A Twenty20 event played in a league format, matches will be held on Fridays in temperatures which are likely to reach the high 30s Centigrade. Under the new playing conditions for ACC youth-tournaments, each country has to have a minimum of three passport-holders in their playing XIs. The cricketing countries of the Middle East, which have citizenship laws different to those of Europe for example, where non-Arabs born in those countries do not receive a passport of their country of birth, therefore have to reach into the local population in order to be eligible to participate in ACC youth events.

Oman’s 2010 U16s

Oman won the 2010 ACC U-16 Challenge, a few days after the start of the All Omani Summer Cricket Tournament with three Arab players (Ahmed Husain, Omar Al Balushi and Sultan Al Rahbi) in their XI , in a competition which was made up of six other teams - Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, Iran, Maldives and Myanmar - which had native players throughout. Current development strategy is based on expanding and deepening the take-up of cricket across Asia, starting with the native population in each country in much the same way that cricketers have been sought in out-station areas of Sri Lanka (Sanath Jayasuriya, Lasith Malinga), the frontier provinces of Pakistan (Shahid Afridi, Younis Khan)and the farthest zones of India (MS Dhoni). Creating new opportunities for new cricketers undoubtedly benefits the game.

Related:
Oman Welcomes Arabs
Oman Cricket Profile

Filed July 21st, 2010