The season 2015-16 goes down in the history of Oman Cricket as one of the most memorable seasons ever, thanks to the efforts put in by everyone concerned with Cricket in Oman. Having qualified to the ICC World T20 Cup 2016 played in India, our players mesmerized the cricketing world from the first ball of their debut performance in such a high level tournament. All the players performed so well that some of them even entered in to the record books for their individual performances. The collective effort and the unity of the team was much appreciated by the stalwarts and lovers of the game alike. Just prior to the ICC tournament, Oman Cricket participated in the Asia Cup 2016 played in Bangladesh.
Though the team did not qualify for the second round in both the tournaments, the participation of our team itself was a big achievement that will be remembered by one and all for a long time. My sincere appreciation and thanks go to every one of the team members, the team support personnel, the Franchises who employ the players, the Sponsors, such as OmanTel and BDM, and the large contingent of supporters who visited the matches to cheer our team. Being one of such large supporters of the game, it brought tears of happiness in my eyes to see our team participate in the World Cup in the wonderful picturesque stadium at Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, India.
Immediately after having returned from World Cup tournament, Oman Cricket was again challenged in a 50 overs format tournament, the ICC WCL Div 5, played in Jersey, in which our team emerged second best and qualified to participate in the ICC WCL Div 4 tournament to be held in the USA later this year. My sincere congratulations and best wishes to the team.
After having completed two successful years as an Associate Member of the International Cricket Council, Oman Cricket received recognition. It has been appointed as a Permanent Non Test Playing Country member of the newly formed Asian Cricket Council with it’s head office at Colombo, Sri Lanka and one member from Oman Cricket is also nominated in Executive Committee of ACC. I congratulate all the Board Members and all the well wishers of Oman Cricket, without whose valuable support and tireless efforts, we would not have received such recognitions.
We at Oman Cricket are ever grateful and wish to thank His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said for his continued support and encouragement because of which, like all other sports, Cricket in Oman, is fast picking up among the nationals, and has reached such heights that it has put the Sultanate in the International map of Cricket playing nations.
I am also grateful to His Highness Sayyid Haitham bin Tarik Al Said, Minister of Heritage and Culture, and Patron-in–Chief of Oman Cricket for his continued guidance and support throughout the season.
My gratitude to His Excellency Shaikh Saad Mohammed Said Al Mardhoof Al Saadi, the Minister of Sports and all the officials of the Ministry without whose support Cricket in Oman could not have flourished as it has done.
I pay tribute to the Oman Cricket Board Members and the Sub Committees for their enthusiasm and tireless efforts that they have exhibited resulting in so many achievements. It is with great pride that Oman Cricket is now ready with the second state of the art grass ground with ten pitches at the Ministry of Sports ground at Al Amerat, on which our ‘A’ division Senior tournament, U19 Junior tournament and Women’s Cricket tournament will be held in the new season. For the first time ever, Oman Cricket witnessed cricket being played under the flood lights by the Premier Division teams playing the T20 format of the game.
My sincere thanks to the sponsors of various domestic tournaments, the Umpires, other officials, the participating teams and the grounds men for having conducted the tournaments very efficiently throughout the season.
Last but not the least, I congratulate the winning teams and wish the very best to all the other teams for the new season starting mid-September 2016.
