Oman ready for ICC World Cup League 2 in Scotland

MUSCAT: A new venue and a changed format (50-over-a-side) welcomed Oman national cricket team in Scotland as they arrived earlier this week to take part in the ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 (CWCL2), which will be held from July 16-24.

Following the disappointment of the ICC T20 World Cup in West Indies, where Duleep Mendis’ men lost all their four games in the group stage, the team regrouped at home and had a brief camp before departing for Scotland. Aaqib Ilyas, who led Oman at the T20 World Cup, has been retained as skipper.

Three changes have been made to the squad that took part in the T20 World Cup with Jay Odedra, Samay Shrivastava and Karan Sonawale drafted into the team. The players who have been dropped are Naseem Khushi, Mohammad Nadeem and Shakeel Ahmed.

The Men in Red are scheduled to play a 50-over tri-nation tournament as part of the CWCL2 and will face hosts Scotland and Namibia in the series.

Both Scotland and Namibia were coincidentally part of the same group at the T20 World Cup. Oman lost to Namibia in a Super Over in Barbados and then were outplayed by Scotland in Antigua.

Coach Mendis was confident that the team, which has few changes from the T20 squad, will put up a strong performance in the CWCL2, where Oman had finished behind Scotland in the previous cycle to qualify for the ICC ODI World Cup qualifier in Zimbabwe.

The ICC has tweaked the format and in the current cycle, has included eight teams in the CWCL2.

Oman meet Scotland on 16 July and then meet Namibia on 18 July. They play again with Oman taking on the hosts on 22 July and Namibia on 24 July.

Prior to the main competition, Oman will take on Scotland A team in two 50-over practice games on 11-12 July at Forfarshire CC’s Forthill ground, the venue of CWCL2.

Mendis said: :These warm-up games will give us a good idea of the conditions here in Scotland. It is always nice to play few friendly games ahead of the main competition. The weather is much better than Oman at this time and the players are getting used to the conditions having arrived well in advance.”

The head coach added: “Thanks to Oman Cricket Board, we have arrived early to acclimatise and I am sure the boys will perform better on these hybrid wickets.”

About CWCL2

The 2024-2026 ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 (CWCL2) is the second edition that forms part of the 2027 ODI World Cup qualification process.

With Super League scraped, the CWCL2 has been increased from seven to eight teams and Scotland are the defending champions. The teams participating are Canada, Namibia, Netherlands, Scotland, Nepal, USA, UAE and Oman. The top four will advance to the next round following a total of 144 matches and then play the final qualifier featuring 10 teams, with four top teams joining the top eight for the World Cup.

Oman team: Aaqib Ilyas (c), Zeeshan Maqsood, Ayaan Khan, Kashyap Prajapati, Shoaib Khan, Karan Sonavale, Pratik Athawale, Jay Odedra, Khalid Kail, Mehran Khan, Bilal Khan, Kaleemullah, Fayyaz Butt, Samay Shrivastava, Rafiullah.

Support staff: Duleep Mendis (head coach), Evert Laubscher (assistant coach), Champaka Ramanayake (bowling coach), Zeeshan Siddiqui (team analyst), Sean Nowak (team physio), Amjad Khan (masseur).

Match schedule:

Tuesday 16th July Scotland v Oman

Thursday 18th July Oman v Namibia

Saturday 20th July Scotland v Namibia

Monday 22nd July Scotland v Oman

Wednesday 24th July Oman v Namibia

Friday 26th July Scotland v Namibia