The Omani set to lead the country's cricketing revolution

Barnaby Read 21:49 10/03/2016
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  • Oman's Oman's Munis Ansari (R) and Ajay Lalcheta react to their win over Ireland.

    Oman rocked the World T20’s world on Wednesday night and boy did they enjoy their moment.

    Beaming smiles followed the players from the pitch to their post-match press conference to the media gathering at their hotel room on Thursday. And rightly so.

    The whole thing is new to them, as it is for the majority of teams in their membership, certainly in the Middle East.

    Their hotel has armed security and metal detectors behind a gated entrance.

    If they want to go and explore Dharamsala then prior approval is needed, as is a police escort.

    It’s not only new to them, it’s new to the journalists covering the early tournament who are searching for tales of fat rich men who control players’ citizenship through employment. Instead they find a story of a board that is both accountable and praised at every turn.

    And they are taking note.

    A Twitter conversation between two prevalent Pakistani cricket journalists noted how Wednesday’s star Amir Ali had played first-class cricket for Karachi. It was noted by the Indian hacks here who wanted to know more about Amir, his life and how he played that remarkable innings.

    The flame has been lit, but it is a real, ugly prospect that it could be blown out.

    The UAE team are well aware of the joy at playing on the biggest stage, the attention and finance it brings and the hope that their region will finally take note and pick up cricket bats, balls and wicket-keeping gloves.

    But they are also keenly aware of how big that task is.

    Mohammad Tauqir was shoehorned back into the side to captain them as an Emirati ahead of last year’s World Cup and the Emirates Cricket Board desperately hoped it would start a revolution.

    Any such change needs a huge amount of hard work and is certainly not an overnight job, but it does always have its spark.

    For Oman, Wednesday night was that strike of the match and one person who will now be put under the microscope and be key to taking the sport to Omani’s is their sole national Sufyan Mehmood.

    The 24-year-old is the only Omani in the team and despite not playing on Wednesday he is probably going to become a central point of his country’s attempts to build on their success in Dharamsala.

    And so they should, he is a promising 24-year-old fast-bowler who has earned his place in the team on merit alone.

    He talks a good game too, full of honesty in his conviction that this win will do so much good for Oman, his love for his country and pride in the team’s victory despite watching from the sidelines.

    Mehmood is also not resting on his laurels.

    “It’s a big moment for us qualifying for the first time for the World Cup and hopefully we can qualify for the next round,” the former student of the Sri Lankan School in Muscat told Sport360.

    “Hopefully more nationals can take up the game after following us and how we are doing. That’s the main thing I can expect from back home.”

    Mehmood only finished studying last year and was recruited by Fairtrade LLC – a division of Enhance Group – 10 months ago.

    Much like in the UAE, Oman’s cricketers have predominantly been hired by companues to represent their domestic cricket teams and success with the national team brings great pride and exposure.

    Since joining Fairtrade, Mehmood has been nearly exclusively travelling with Oman and the company has fully backed him.

    For some it is not as simple and a number of Oman’s cricketers are on unpaid leave to participate in this tournament. But who would turn down the opportunity?

    Mehmood is determined to give back to everyone that helped him get to this stage in his career and hopes to feed his own experiences back to Oman’s young hopefuls in a country where very few national children are exposed to the sport with more eyes already locked on the Premier League.

    One way in is the Omani-only side that he represents in the country of his birth.

    “It’s a long way to go now and I’m very lucky to be experiencing this at a young age. Hopefully I can improve more and more and every time I play with that Omani team I make sure I give all the experience that I have.

    “Three years back there was only 100-200 or so people playing in Oman and now we have seven or eight teams alongside the Omani interest and there are some extremely talented players coming through.

    “There are players who are showing a positive response to cricket and it feels good looking to the future. It looks like our cricket has a bright future.”

    Mehmood admits that there is work to be done and that the majority of new players to the game are more his age than school kids.

    To reach those crucial early development stage children is not an easy task but in Mehmood, Oman have someone to pin their flag to and tell a story of a potentially long international career as an example to follow.

    Much will depend on how Mehmood develops as a cricketer and person in the coming years, as well as the board’s determination to help him plant seeds in the country. On the surface of it, both look ready and, significantly, willing.

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