DUBAI: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday announced the match schedule of the ICC World Cricket League Division 3, and also confirmed the six squads as well as match officials for the event that will be played across two Oman venues from November 9 to 19.
Oman will host an ICC event for the very first time and will face Kenya at the Oman Club (OC) Turf 1 on the opening day, while in the other opening day fixture Uganda will take on Denmark at the Oman Club (OC) Turf 2 .
The USA will play their first match on day two against Uganda at OC Turf 1, whilst Singapore will open their account at OC Turf 2 against hosts Oman on November 10.
Meanwhile, all six teams have relied on experience and in form players in their quest to claim one of the top two available spots, which will take them to the ICC World Cricket League Division 2 in Namibia between April 18-28, on their journey to the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 qualification.
Oman and Kenya, who were relegated to Division 3 after finishing fifth and sixth respectively in the ICC World Cricket League Division 2 in Namibia in February 2018, will be looking to bounce back instantly. The hosts have batter Khawar Ali, who scored 170 runs in six matches, and bowler Bilal Khan, who took 17 wickets at an average of 10.76, in their last outings in an ICC World Cricket League tournament.
Kenya have an experienced bowler in Nelson Odhiambo, who took seven wickets for his team in Division 2 in February 2018, and Dhiren Gondaria, who scored 167 runs in seven matches in that event.
Singapore and USA had retained their places in Division 3 following their finish in the last edition of the same tournament in Uganda in 2017.
Singapore have kept faith with two of their best performers from the Uganda tournament, Anish Paraam, who totalled 190 runs from the six matches, and Anantha Krishna, who took 10 wickets across the tournament. Both the players will be looking to repeat the same performances.
Steven Taylor is back for the USA following his 126 runs and 10 wickets in Uganda 2017.
Uganda and Denmark, who were promoted from the ICC World Cricket League Division 4 2018 in Malaysia, will be hoping to climb the ladder once more.
Lastly, the Playing Control Team for the tournament will be led by V Narayana Kutty from India, who has been appointed as the ICC Tournament Referee. The Mentor Umpire, Sri Lanka’s Lyndon Hannibal, will be joined by two Nepalese umpires Buddhi Pradhan and Vinay Kumar Jha.
The remaining umpiring responsibilities will be shared between the UAE’s Akbar Ali Khan and Iftikhar Ali and Rahul Asher from Oman.
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
