World T20 2021 | OMA vs PNG: Historic setting marks the beginning of World Cup journey

Dale Steyn lashes out at CSA after board blatantly ignores Faf du Plessis' exploits once again

Even as Faf du Plessis, former South Africa skipper made terrific 86 off 59 balls in his team Chennai Super Kings’ win in the final of the Indian Premier League against Kolkata Knight Riders, Cricket South Africa chose to ignore him. Instead of honouring the Man of the Match winner in the final, the social media handles i.e. official Twitter and Instagram handle of the board only mentioned Lungi Ngidi in its posts congratulating South African players part of the IPL. First Faf himself took offence to the post and posted a comment below it saying, “Really??” Soon, another Proteas legend Dale Steyn came in with his support and advised CSA to tag all the players and support staff of South Africa involved in it, especially du Plessis and Imran Tahir as they have served South African cricket for a long period. No heed was paid by the handlers of the official handle to those comments for a long time and Steyn put out another tweet saying that CSA blocked the comments section. It was only after that the post was removed and a new post was made by the CSA social media handles where they especially congratulated du Plessis.

World T20 2021 | With an opportunity of one in million years, Oman are ready to rock on home soil

Even if Kanaksi Khimji, the founding father of Oman Cricket and cricket in Oman was to dream, he wouldn’t have dreamt of his tiny nation hosting the biggest spectacle of cricket as soon as 2021. Although he is not alive to see it, his son Pankaj Khimji’s hard work, good relations with BCCI and pandemic intervention meant that a team, which got the Associate status of the ICC only in 2014, is now being co-hots of a T20 World Cup. This meteoric rise of a country, where cricket was played by touring Navys and their sailors on the coasts of the Gulf, is almost second to none. Now, come October 17 and Al Amerat, only 18 KMs away from Muscat would register its name in the history books of cricket as the venue where the inaugural match of T20 World Cup 2021 was played. This is going to be the second World Cup for the Omani team which had shocked Ireland in its first-ever World Cup game in 2016. However, it was unable to qualify for the second round due to rain washouts and rain curtailed losses. But after that feat, the Oman team hasn’t looked back as it managed to qualify for this edition of the World Cup as well. But inconsistency has been the second name of this team and it haunted them in the qualifiers too. Oman's road to T20 World Cup 2021 When the ICC T20 World Cup 2020 Qualifiers were t begin in UAE in 2019, Oman was coming off a great four-match winning run against established sides like Ireland, the Netherlands, Hong Kong and Nepal. It was assumed that they would sweep through the Group stages, especially with only Ireland being a comparatively stronger team than Oman. The Omani side did do well and lost only to Ireland until the last game when they were beaten by Jersey, a team that made it to Qualifiers through European Qualifiers. This inconsistency meant that instead of directly booking a place for the T20 World Cup 2020 (now 2021) which they would have courtesy more points than that Ireland’s, they finished on equal points and because of inferior net runs rate, had to face Nambia in the semi-finals, having finished second in their group. What happened next was even more shocking as they lost to Namibia as well and were left with no other choice but to go into sudden death fellow Asian team Hong Kong fr the final T20 World Cup spot. Tanks to a gritty performance they did manage to notch up a 12 run victory defending a total as low as 134 and made it to the World Cup. Ever since the World Cup qualification, the men in red have played 15 ODIs against Associate nations and two T20Is against Sri Lanka before jumping into the warm-up games. Out of the 15 ODIs they played against Nepal, the USA, Papua New Guinea, UAE, Namibia and Scotland, the team won 10 of them. But in between those ODIs, it also lost a T20I game to Qatar, once again show its inconsistency. While it lost both its games to Sri Lanka, in practice matches against Namibia and Netherlands, it showed its strength and won against the forme, while losing by just four runs against the latter. Jatinder, Bilal and Zeeshan: Three wheels of Omani success Much like PNG, Oman is also a team that prides itself on playing with players who have grown together. These are the players which did odd jobs while playing cricket at the same time and were able to make it to the World Cup. The three players who have been like pillars for Oman Cricket and have seen the team going from playing in ICC Cricket World Cup League 5 to being given the ODI status, Jatinder Singh, Bilal Khan and Zeeshan Maqsood form a trio that will be very important for Oman’s progress in the tournament. While skipper of the side Maqsood is one of the finest all-rounders going in the Associate circuit with more than 700 runs and 49 wickets in his kitty in both ODIs and T20Is combined, Bilal and Jatinder ware responsible for giving explosive states with ball and bat respectively. Jatinder to his kitty has more than 1000 runs including an ODI century in 50 games of both formats combined while Bilal has the knock of picking a wicket in the very first over that he bowls. He is one of the few bowlers to have taken four-wicket hauls in consecutive innings in Men’s T20Is. The 33-year-old has to his name 80 international scalps in 54 games. The big ambitions "It's purely a one in a million years opportunity," Pankaj Khimji, chairman of Oman Cricket, was quoted as saying to CNN Sport early this week. But what if that chance is grabbed up and in a precariously open group, they could very well make it to the second stage of the World Cup. "Never has an associate country [on the International Cricket Council] hosted a World Cup. And not just that, has also played in one simultaneously. This is a big high for us in Oman,” Khimji added in his interview. But what could be even bigger is the fact that the team, which could beat Ireland, could also beat Bangladesh, Scotland and PNG and thereby make it to the Super 12 and that would indeed be historic. "In 10 years, they'll be telling their children stories about how their father played cricket at the World Cup,” Khimji said. While that can be a great story no doubt, but that if the fathers also tell their children that they become the first Associate host to also make it to the second stage of the T20 World Cup. All this is at stake. But the bigger question is, do they have in it them to achieve it? Can they do it? All that Oman has to do is win against Scotland and PNG even if it is unable to win against a fancied Bangladesh side. With the kind of strength they have and the amount of cricket that they have played off late at home, it shouldn’t be much difficult for Oman to make use of the home advantage and progress to round two. Oman T20 World Cup 2021 Squad Zeeshan Maqsood (c), Aqib Ilyas, Jatinder Singh, Khawar Ali, Mohammad Nadeem, Ayaan Khan, Suraj Kumar, Sandeep Goud, Nester Dhamba, Kaleemullah, Bilal Khan, Naseem Khushi, Sufyan Mehmood, Fayyaz Butt, Khurram Khan Nawaz Fixtures 17 Oct Oman v Papua New Guinea 19 Oct Oman v Bangladesh 21 Oct Oman v Scotland

Women Big Bash League games in Hobart to go ahead as planned despite lockdown in Tasmania

The four matches of the ongoing edition of the Women Big Bash League scheduled to be played in Tasmania will carry on as per the schedule irrespective of the lockdown in the state, the league said in a statement. However, those matches will now be played behind closed doors and without any spectators. "The league and all eight clubs are incredibly thankful to the Tasmanian Government for allowing the Weber WBBL to safely continue in Hobart this weekend," said Alistair Dobson, CA's head of Big Bash League. "We'd also like to express our gratitude to players and staff from all clubs, plus match officials, broadcast partners and venue staff for their understanding as we worked through the final details with the Tasmanian Government. The experience gained from last summer means all involved in the Weber WBBL are well prepared to do whatever necessary to conduct a safe and successful competition this year." The first phase of the tournament comprising of 24 games of the season was scheduled to take place in Hobart and Launceston before the tournament were to move on to other parts of the country. There has been a sudden lockdown in place in Hobar after the emergence of a fresh cluster of cases in the city and if there are more cases in the near future there can be a big impact on the schedule of the tournament.

World T20 2021 | Inspired by heartbreaks, Scotland have 'belief' to correct grim world cup history

When Scotland debut at the world stage in the world cup, some of the great captains of the modern era such as Sourav Ganguly, Ricky Ponting and MS Dhoni had not even started. The year was 1999 and the Scotts were making their world cup debut in England. Fast forward to 2021, they have just one win in the world cup to show against their long history and rather have had an uninspiring history to be boastful about. The solitary win came over Hong Kong, the side that came onto the world stage far later after them in the 2016 edition of the ICC World T20. However, instead of starting off their journey on a fresh note after that win, their journey went into a tailspin and they suffered massive heartbreak in the form of knocking out of the contention for the next ODI World Cup in England. Scotland’s road to world cup There was no end to their misery and they were on the brink of another missed opportunity for the world cup in the ICC World Cup Qualifying event in 2019. They suffered a stunning defeat at the hands of Singapore, a newbie compared to their age in international cricket and two losses against the Netherlands, Namibia had put a big question mark over their belonging to the top level. From being a firm favourite to qualify from their group—Group A, they slipped to fourth on the points table and had to take a far more competitive route to ensure they did not miss the other bus to a world cup event. Now, having a long history but not without significant achievement they would be proud of, Scotland are banking on something else— “belief”, to come with stronger force in the T20 World Cup starting Monday, October 18. “We have skills throughout with bat, ball and in the field but I think our biggest strength is our belief,” their most prominent star and captain Kyle Coetzer said. “As a team, as a country, we really believe now that we are capable of playing on the world stage and in World Cups, so our main strength as team is belief.” Scotland’s big players Kyle Coetzer Scotland’s skipper Coetjer made his world cup debut in the 2009 edition of the ICC World T20 and did not appear too fussed about the enormity of the occasion and the event. He announced his arrival with a solid 32-ball 42 against a very strong South Africa and followed it up with a swashbuckling 15-ball 33 against the hosts England. It was Coetjer only who kept the “belief” alive in the Scottish side as they ran closer to defeating the eventual runners up New Zealand and Afghanistan in the 2015 ICC ODI World Cup. He smashed a magnificent 134-ball 156 against a Bangladesh side who were strong enough to knock Eoin Morgan’s England out of the tournament. Scotland are starting their World T20 2021 campaign against Bangladesh and there is no doubt about who will be the biggest player to watch out for in the contest against the Bangla Tigers. Calum MacLeod A sublime innings of 157 runs against an Afghanistan bowling attack comprising of Rashid Khan and other impressive Afghan pacers in the world cup qualifier tournament in 2018 and a 94-ball 140 against an England bowling attack comprising of Mark Wood, Liam Plunkett, David Willey and Adil Rashid establish the batting credentials of Calum MacLeod. Both Rashids (Adil and Khan) are known champion leg spinners on the world stage and his side will have high hopes of him in the upcoming tournament conspiring a lot of their matches will be played on pitches conducive to spin bowling. MacLeod is a fluent stroke maker and would love the pace and bounce on the pitches in Dubai and Scotland’s batting performances hinge heavily on the shoulders of MacLeod and Coetjer. How far can they go? Scotland have their tasks cut out in order to qualify to the super 12 of the tournament. Bangladesh are the firm favourites to be the first team to qualify and that leaves Scotland to face must-win games against Papua New Guinea, who too are not short of “belief”, and Oman. Scotland had defected both these sides in a bid to qualify for the event, but not before the matches went down the wire and the Scottish skipper will have to urger his troops to be on their toes from the first game against Bangladesh itself. Anything can happen in the game of cricket, especially in this format, but Scotland are the second most likely side to get over the line and into the main draw of the tournament. Scotland squad Kyle Coetzer (captain), Richard Berrington, Dylan Budge, Matthew Cross (wk), Josh Davey, Ally Evans, Chris Greaves, Michael Leask, Calum Macleod, George Munsey, Safyaan Sharif, Hamza Tahir, Craig Wallace, Mark Watt, Brad Wheal. Reserves: Michael Jones, Chris Sole. Scotland fixtures 17 Oct - against Bangladesh 19 Oct - against Papua New Guinea 21 Oct - against Oman

World T20 2021 | OMA vs PNG: Historic setting marks the beginning of World Cup journey

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Oman vs PNG: Match Details

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Oman

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Dale Steyn lashes out at CSA after board blatantly ignores Faf du Plessis' exploits once again

World T20 2021 | With an opportunity of one in million years, Oman are ready to rock on home soil

Women Big Bash League games in Hobart to go ahead as planned despite lockdown in Tasmania

World T20 2021 | Inspired by heartbreaks, Scotland have 'belief' to correct grim world cup history