The Oman men's national cricket team is the team that represents the country of Oman in international matches and is governed by Oman Cricket, which became an affiliate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2000, and gained associate status in 2014. The national side has played matches at the Twenty20 International level. On 24 April 2019, Oman achieved One-Day International status for the first time until 2023, after they beat tournament hosts Namibia by four wickets in 2019 ICC World Cricket League Division Two.[6]
In April 2018, the ICC decided to grant full Twenty20 International (T20I) status to all its members. Therefore, all Twenty20 matches played between Oman and other ICC Members after 1 January 2019 have the T20I status.[8]
Most cricket in Oman is played by expatriate Indians and Pakistanis (and their descendants), rather than by native Omanis – in 2010, only 100 of the 780 players (around 13 per cent) in the national league were Arabs.[9]
Oman became an affiliate member of the ICC in 2000. Their senior international debut came at the 2002 ACC Trophy where they failed to progress beyond the first round, with their only win coming against Qatar. A huge improvement was shown in the 2004 tournament when they reached the final, where they lost against the United Arab Emirates. This qualified them for the 2005 ICC Trophy, the final qualification stage for the 2007 World Cup. It also qualified them for the Asia Cup in 2006. Later in 2004, they won the Middle East Cup after a tied game against Bahrain. They won the tournament as they beat Bahrain in the group stage. In the 2014 ACC Premier League in Malaysia they reached 4th place with three wins.[citation needed]
2005 ICC Trophy and aftermath
In 2005, Oman became the first affiliate member of the ICC to compete in the ICC Trophy. Despite being the mystery men of the tournament, they lost all their group games, but then won their play-off games against Uganda and the USA, the latter when they successfully chased down a mammoth target of 345, featuring an unbroken 127-run partnership for the eighth wicket. This gave them ninth place out of the twelve teams in the competition, enough to earn a place in Division Two of the ICC World Cricket League in 2007.[citation needed]
2006 saw a drop in form for Oman, as they were eliminated in the first round of the ACC Trophy, with their only win coming against the Maldives. As mentioned above, they were originally scheduled to participate in the Asia Cup in 2006, playing their first ODIs against Pakistan and India. However, this tournament was postponed until 2008, and the ACC decided to use the 2006 ACC Trophy as a qualification tournament, meaning that Oman's place was taken by Hong Kong.[citation needed]
2007–2013
In October/November 2007, Oman took part in the inaugural ACC Twenty20 Cup held in Kuwait, where they played in Group A against; Afghanistan, Malaysia, Nepal and Qatar. Oman finished in the top two of their group and qualified for the semi-final stage. Oman beat Kuwait in their semi-final, then shared the tournament after the final match against Afghanistan was tied.[citation needed]
In November 2007, Oman travelled to Namibia to take part in Division Two of the ICC World Cricket League. They played Denmark, the hosts and the UAE in addition to the two qualifiers from Division Three; Uganda and Argentina. Although Oman won all their group matches, they lost to the UAE in the final. On the basis of their top four finish in this tournament, Oman qualified for the ICC World Cup Qualifier in 2009, the final tournament in qualification for the 2011 World Cup.[citation needed]
In January 2009, Oman participated in the ACC Cup, Challenge tournament in Chiang Mai, Thailand. They came first with ease, defeating the Maldives and Bhutan in the Semi finals and finals respectively. The fourth favourites to win the cup were hosts, Thailand who ended up in fourth place.[citation needed]
In April 2009, Oman travelled to South Africa to participate in the ICC World Cup Qualifier, the final tournament in qualification for the 2011 World Cup. During the tournament Oman finished last in their group and in the 11th place playoff they beat Denmark by 5 wickets.[citation needed]
By defeating Namibia in a sudden-death match at the World Twenty20 Qualifier, Oman reached the top six teams at the tournament, thus qualifying for the 2016 World Twenty20 and gaining Twenty20 International status until at least 2019.[12] The team made its T20I debut in the fifth-place play-off against Afghanistan, and later in the year played bilateral T20I series against Afghanistan, Hong Kong, and United Arab Emirates.
In January 2017 Oman took part in the 2017 Desert T20 Challenge. They reached the semi-finals of the tournament by beating Hong Kong in the group stages, before being defeated by Afghanistan.
In April 2019, Oman gained ODI status for the first time, until at least 2022.[6]
Claire Polosak (Aus) became the first female to umpire in a men's ODI.[15]
First ever ODI match for Oman.
On 19 June 2023, Oman played their first-ever ODI match against a test playing nation. Oman faced Ireland in 4th match of the 2023 Cricket World Cup Qualifier. They restricted Ireland to a score of 281/7 in 50 overs, and they chased down this target in 48.1 overs thanks to Kashyap Prajapati's 72 (74). This marked Oman's first ODI victory against a full member nation.
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Namibia at Wanderers Cricket Ground, Windhoek; 27 April 2019
United States at Oman Cricket Academy Ground, Al Amarat; 18 February 2025
Afghanistan at Castle Avenue, Dublin; 25 July 2015
