Pre-tournament favourites Afghanistan will open their ACC Twenty20 Cup campaign with a tough match against Hong Kong on December 3, according to fixtures announced by the Asian Cricket Council.

Group A consists of Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Oman, Kuwait and Maldives, while Group B features the fancied Nepal side along with Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Bhutan and Saudi Arabia.

The tournament forms part of the qualifying process for ICC World Twenty20 2012 in Sri Lanka. The top three teams from this competition, in addition to Afghanistan who have pre-qualified, join the Associate teams with ODI in the 16-team ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier to be played in the UAE in early 2012.

The other regional teams in the qualifier will come from Europe (2), Africa (2), Americas (2) and East Asia - Pacific (1).

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Oman’s 1100+ cricketers, growing in number and with an increasing number of native Arabs, need more places to play. With two of its four grounds lost this season to the demands of housing, the need has become even more pressing. A solution will present itself in December when Oman Cricket leases two grounds at Al Amerat to the south of Muscat, all league matches will now be played at the same place. “We do not want to have this nomadic life anymore,” says Oman Cricket’s Pankaj Khimji.

This season 61 teams are in the Oman League. “Last year we had 52 teams and we had faced difficulties and we don’t want such problems to happen again. We will have a good cricketing infrastructure at the new grounds,” says Mr.Khimji, who is also the Asia region’s Affiliates’ representative at the ICC. “We are extremely delighted at the way the popularity of the League is increasing every year. To have 61 teams in the League is not a small thing. The response by these teams shows the popularity of the League,” he says.

Desert scrub no more than 12 months ago, the grounds at Al Emarat will be unturfed. Oman have recently built a turf-practice facility in Muscat, and will be hoping to make good use of that under new coach Roy Dias in the years ahead as they aim to qualify for the T20 World Cup, ICC Intercontinental Cup, and the World Cup.

Roy Dias, the former Sri Lanka batsman, has confirmed he will take over as Oman's coach. Dias, who played 20 Tests and 58 ODIs in the eighties, has plenty of experience supervising upcoming nations, having spent the past decade in charge of the Nepal team.

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Hong Kong beat table-toppers Papua New Guinea by 93 runs at the Hong King Cricket Club to qualify for Friday's final in the ICC World Cricket League Division Three, where they will play PNG again. Hong Kong's win also mean they are guaranteed promotion to WCL Div. 2.

PNG, who chose to field, had Hong Kong in trouble early on as Rarva Dikana and Hitolo Areni picked up three wickets to reduce Hong Kong to 39 for 3 in the 11th over. However, Hussain Butt, who top-scored with 68 was involved in two crucial 40-plus stands with Irfan Ahmed (25) and Nizakat Khan (36) to take Hong Kong past 100. Areni struck to dismiss Nizakat and Waqas Barkat in quick succession but Butt and captain Najeeb Amar put on 53 runs in just under 10 overs to get the Hong Kong innings back on track. Butt was dismissed with the score on 196 but Nadeem Ahmed hit some big shots to take Hong King to 221 before they were bowled out.

Hong Kong's bowlers then defended the total, bowling PNG out cheaply. Tony Ura and Kila Pala were the only two batsmen who managed to get past 20, as PNG failed to string together any substantial partnerships and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Nadeem picked up three wickets as PNG were bowled out for 128 in just under 48 overs.

Two aggressive half-centuries from Hemin Desai and Vaibhav Wategaonkar carried Oman to a commanding four-wicket win over Denmark at the Kowloon Cricket Club, but it was not enough to allow Oman to qualify for the final.

Denmark were sent in to bat and got off to a shaky start, losing their openers with just 38 runs on the board. Carsten Pedersen and Rizwan Mahmood steadied the innings with a 66-run partnership but once Mahmood was dismissed with the score on 104, Denmark suffered a collapse. Rajesh Kumar and Khalid Rashid picked up three wickets apiece as Denmark slumped from 104 for 3 to 181 all out in just under 48 overs.

Oman needed to knock the runs off quickly if they were to keep their hopes of qualifying for the final alive. Desai and Zeeshan Siddiqui got them off to a rapid start, adding 34 runs in 2 overs before Siddiqui was dismissed. Desai and Wategaonkar then blasted 41 runs in 17 balls. Desai fell for 51 off just 17 balls with five fours and five sixes. Wategaonkar added another rapid 22 with Adnan Ilyas before Bashir Shah had Ilyas stumped. Oman seemed to lose momentum after his dismissal. Though they reached their target in just under 25 overs with Wategaonkar unbeaten on 54, Hong Kong went ahead of their run-rate by beating PNG to destroy Oman's hopes of qualifying for the final.

USA's hopes of qualifying for WCL Div. 2 were ended by Italy, who beat them by four wickets at the Mission Road Ground. Italy will now go on to play Oman in the third-place playoff while USA will play for fifth place against Denmark.

Italy got off to a shaky start in their chase of 223, slumping to 52 for 4, but a 102-run partnership between Peter Petricola and wicketkeeper Hayden Patrizi got them back into the game. After Patrizi was out for 50, Michael Raso came in and smashed 38 off 29 deliveries, and Italy got home with 18 balls to spare. Petricola was unbeaten on 69.

Petricola had also been Italy's most successful bowler, taking four wickets as Italy restricted USA to 222 for 8. USA captain Steve Massiah scored 52 and opener Sushil Nadkarni scored 47, but USA didn't get to a big enough total.

Tony Munro

The pain of missing the semi-finals of the ACC Trophy Elite for the first time has been compounded for United Arab Emirates following their 34-run loss in the fifth-sixth place play-off against Oman in Kuwait on Thursday.

Sent in by Oman, the Emiratis put in a spirited batting display, hitting 265 runs in 48.3 overs, thanks chiefly due to captain Khurram Khan's 90 from 71 balls, including 11 fours and two sixes. Khan combined with another veteran, Arshad Ali, (35) in a run-a-ball third-wicket partnership of 98, after UAE were 21 for 2. Further contributions from Saqib Ali (32), Fayyaz Ahmed (21 off 19 balls) and a late flurry from Shoaib Sarwar (30 from 16 including three sixes) lifted UAE to a useful total. Slow left-arm bowler, Tariq Hussain was Oman's main wicket-taker, returning 3 for 50.

Omani openers, Hemin Desai and Deep Trivedi, possibly mindful of the threat of a reduction in overs, gave their team a positive start. Although both openers were dismissed, Oman were 52 after just 6.5 overs. Man-of-the-match, Vaibhav Wategaonkar (65 not out in 76 balls) combined with Adnan Ilyas (49) and Sultan Ahmed (19 not out) to continue the attack to reach 193 for 3 when rain intervened. With a resumption not being impossible, Oman won the match by 34 runs thanks to Duckworth/Lewis calculations.

The tournament concludes today with the final between Afghanistan and Nepal, as well as the third place play-off between Hong Kong and Malaysia.

Tony Munro

Malaysia has caused the boil-over of the 2010 ACC Trophy Elite tournament in Kuwait by knocking out tradtional heavyweight United Arab Emirates (UAE) on net run-rate to snare a semi-final berth. It will be the first ACC Trophy since 1998 without UAE in the final, let alone the semi-finals – ironically 1998 was the last time Malaysia was a finalist.

After UAE chose to bat, allrounder Suresh Navaratnam proved to be the catalyst for the upset, taking four for 29 from his 10 overs, including UAE openers Arshad Ali and Indika Sampath. Navaratnam's haul helped reduce the UAE to 7 for 70 before vital late-order runs from Salman Farooq (40), Shadeep Silva (20) and Shoaib Sanwar (13) lifted the final total to 152 from 40 overs.

The South East Asians knew they needed to not only win, but do so quickly to squeeze into the semi-finals on net run-rate. Their reply, though, was in early trouble at 2-13 when openers Rakesh Madhavan (0) and Damith Warusavithana (1) departed within the first five overs. Ahmad Faiz (43 from 51) and captain Suhan Kumar fought back in robust fashion, putting on 77 in 12.5 overs to position Malaysia favourably. Kumar earned the Man-of-the-Match award for his run-a-ball 65, which included a six and six fours. A middle-order callapse saw Malaysia skid from 2 for 70 to 6 for 106. Kumar then combined with Hassan Ghulam who made an unbeaten 20 from 17 balls to lift Malaysia to 7 for 132 and within sight of victory before Kumar was bowled. Paceman Qasim Zubair was UAE's chief wicket-taker (2-36). Malaysia scraped home by two wickets and will now play Nepal in its semi-final on Wednesday.

Defending champions Hong Kong put it past Oman to enter the semi-finals in a match that was reduced to 39 overs per side, after a wet outfield delayed the start. Hong Kong won the toss and sent Oman in. Opener Hemin Desai continued his wretched tournament, dismissed in the first over for six. Deep Trivedi and Vibhav Wategaonkar put on the biggest stand of the Oman innings, worth 46 in 11 overs. Moner Ahmed stifled the hopes of the middle order, taking 4 for 19 as Oman managed 168 for 9. Hong Kong's reply was just as cumbersome, at one stage faltering at 106 for 5, needing 63 off 12 overs. Nizakat Khan came to the rescue, striking 57 from 72 balls, including three fours and three sixes. Aided by Waqas Barkat (16 from 12), Hong Kong secured their semi-final berth, to face Afghanistan on Wednesday.

The last match was a useful hit-out for Nepal against Kuwait, who were already out of semi-final contention. Kuwait was dismissed for 120 in 42 overs, with no top-order batsman reaching 20. Saud Iqbal showed some staying power in compiling 26 from 48 balls to top-score for the hosts. Binod Das took 3-24 to ensure Kuwait never got going. Openers Mahesh Chettri (63) and Anil Mandal (33) put on 80 for the first wicket as Nepal galloped home, reaching the target of 121 in quick time.

Adnan Ilyas’s unbeaten 82 helped Oman ease to a comfortable victory over Kuwait at Unity, ensuring Oman hold on to their No. 2 position in Group B. Deep Trividi (4 for 36) led a solid bowling effort from Oman, which halted any hopes of the Kuwait batsmen making the most of a series of good starts. Six passed 20 but Khalid Butt’s dashing 55 was the only score half-century of the innings. At 176 for 7, Kuwait were struggling to post a competitive total but a 47-run eighth-wicket stand between Muhammad Javed and Muhammad Akhudzada helped lift the total 247. Oman were reduced to 72 for 3 in reply but 111-run partnership between Ilyas and captain Sultan Ahmed carried Oman towards touching distance of the target. Ahmed made 52 at almost a run a ball before he fell to Saud Iqbal and Aamir Khaleem and Ilyas ensured there was no slip up and Oman cantered home by five wickets.

Nadeem Ahmed starred with 5 for 35 to help Hong Kong beat Singapore in their bottom-of-the-table match at Hubara. In a day dominated by the bowlers, Hong Kong slipped to a perilous 118 for 8 after 33 overs. It was left to Moner Ahmed and Nadeem to rescue Hong Kong with a crucial 52-run stand. Moner ran well between the wickets during his run-a-ball 44 while Nadeem was content to hang around, making a patient 28 from 43 balls. When they fell in quick succession to the impressive Narender Reddy (4 for 28) Hong Kong were bowled out for 194, 22 balls short of their 50-over quota. What looked a below-par total proved to be enough as Singapore’s batsmen were unable to build on the good work done by their bowlers. Munish Arora did his best to anchor the innings with a patient 52 but regular wickets kept falling as Nadeem completed an excellent all-round game to take his side to a 45-run victory.

Bhutan subsided to their third heavy defeat in a row as Malaysia romped home by 10-wickets at KEC. After UAE and Afghanistan butchered Bhutan’s bowlers in the first two games, Bhutan opted to bat first when they won the toss. However, Ghulam’s 4 for 18 and Shahgul’s 3 for 15 halted any hopes of a competitive total as Bhutan collapsed to 68 all out. Their bowlers promptly picked up from where they left off and Damidh savaged six fours and three sixes on his way to a man-of-the-match earning 53 not out as Malaysia reached the target in 38 balls.

Saqib Ali took charge of UAE’s chase against Afghanistan and scored a brisk 93 to steer his side to a tense two-wicket victory. Chasing 218 to win, UAE lost their first wicket on 0 and, by the 20th over, had slipped to 62 for 4. Saqib held up one end but support was thin at the other. However, he inched UAE closer to the target, striking six fours and two sixes, and was unbeaten when the winning runs were struck off the first ball of the 50th over. Shahpoor Zadran bowled an excellent spell of 3 for 28 but had been given too little to defend by his batsmen. Afghanistan’s innings had slumped from 41 for 0 to 57 for 4 by the 16th over and it needed half-centuries from Raees Ahmadzai and Samiullah Shinwari to 217 for 7. UAE used as many as eight bowlers of which Shadeep Silva was the best, returning figures of 3 for 29 in nine overs.

Nepal’s bowlers set up a facile win against Oman by restricting them to 169 for 9 in their 50 overs. Oman lost their first wicket with no score on the board and were crippled by losses at regular intervals thereafter. Vaibhav Wategaonkar top-scored with 56 but only three other batsmen got into double figures. Rahul Vishvakarma was Nepal’s most successful bowler, taking 3 for 32, while Shakti Gauchan claimed 2 for 23 in nine overs. There was no stand-out performance in Nepal’s innings but all of their top-order batsmen made useful contributions to ensure victory. The platform was laid by openers Mahesh Chettri, who scored 35, and Anil Mandal, who top-scored with 39, and the target was eventually reached in the 39th over with six wickets in hand. Aamir Ali picked up 3 for 48 for Oman but his effort was in vain.

Hussain Butt’s unbeaten half-century steered Hong Kong to a six-wicket victory against Kuwait. Chasing a target of 203, Hong Kong lost an early wicket – Roy Lamsam lbw for 5 – but Butt joined Nasir Hammed for a steadying 61-run stand for the second wicket. Hameed for 40 and the batsmen who followed him gave Butt useful support as he compiled 82 off 117 balls with eight fours and a six. Hong Kong reached the target off the penultimate ball of the 44th over. In their innings, Kuwait had reached 35 for 0 after winning the toss before losing their way. Three wickets fell for three runs and Ilyas Gul cut through the middle order, taking 4 for 33, to restrict the hosts to 202 for 9 in 49.5 overs. Lasantha Dimuthu scored 51 but received little support from his team-mates.

Bhutan suffered their second comprehensive defeat in as many matches as UAE beat them by an astonishing 437 runs. Once again it was the Bhutan bowlers who suffered with UAE racking up 510 for five in 50 overs. Saqib Ali thrashing 140 off 90 balls before retiring but there was no let up as Abdul Rehman smited five sixes in his 28-ball 75 to carry the total past the 500 mark. Understandably wilting under the onslaught the Bhutan bowlers sent down 30 wides with Barun Wakhley the main culprit, bowling 16 in his 10-over spell that cost 111. With the total long past anything reasonable the best Bhutan could hope for was to put up a decent fight and they managed to last 32.2 overs. Damber Gurung top scored with 25 but a regular trickle of wickets saw the match quickly reach its inevitable conclusion.

Awal Khan’s four wickets helped Oman complete an easy eight-wicket victory over Singapore at Hubara. Opting to bat first Singapore worked their way cautiously to 102-3 in 31 overs before subsiding to 173 all out 13 balls short of the 50-over quota. It didn’t look like enough for Singapore, despite an early wicket for Saad Janjua, who dismissed Hemin Desai in the first over of the innings. Vaibhav Wategaonkar ensured no slip-ups for Oman as he progressed smoothly past fifty and when he eventually fell to Dharmichand Mulewa, it was left to Adnan Ilyas to compile a 37-ball unbeaten 52 and guide Oman home.

Tony Munro

Oman will be without captain Hemal Mehta for their return to the top level of non-Test cricket in Asia, the ACC Trophy Elite, to be held in Kuwait from March 31 to April 9.

Mehta had to opt out due to work commitments so the squad will be led by wicketkeeper Sultan Ahmed, who has been Mehta's deputy in several previous non-Test tournaments.

The squad includes the core of the team which has made it one of the more unpredictable in the second tier of Asian cricket. Aggressive allrounder Hemin Desai, middle-order batsmen Adnan Iyas and Vaibhav Wategaonkar and fast bowler Awal Khan are regular members of the Omani team.

Mehta's absence is a blow not just due to his captaincy, as he was player of the tournament at last year's ACC Trophy Challenge (the virtual second division of Asian non-Test cricket). Oman easily won the tournament to earn promotion back to the top flight. They were consigned to the Challenge after losing two of three matches in the 2006 ACC Trophy, and were the runners-up in the 2004 ACC Trophy and third in the ACC Twenty20 Cup last November.

Oman is in Group A alongside Hong Kong, Nepal, Singapore and Kuwait. Group B comprises United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, Malaysia, Bahrain and Bhutan.

The squad is: Sultan Ahmed (capt), Rafeeq Al-Balushi, Yousuf Mahmood Sufyan Mahmood, Hemin Desai, Adnan Ilyas, Vaibhav Wategaonkar, Zeeshan Siddiqui, Awal Khan, Khalid Rasheed, Amir Ali, Nileshkumar Parmar, Tariq Hussain, Aamir Khaleem; coach - Mazhar Khan.

Three of the semi-finalists were decided on the fourth day of the ACC Twenty20 Cup, with the three unbeaten teams - Afghanistan, Oman and UAE - all progressing to the last four.

UAE grabbed the headlines with a 209-run rout of the hapless China side, the biggest margin in a representative Twenty20 match. UAE made 236 for 5 and then bundled out China for 27, 15 of which were extras. In a week Australia’s chief executive claimed the ICC would be better off promoting cricket in China than in some existing Associates, it again highlighted the yawning chasm between the hopes of those running the game and the reality of the side itself.

Afghanistan bowled out Saudi Arabia for 72 to win by nine wickets, but Oman were made to struggle more, even so they beat Malaysia by 35 runs after posting 197 for 5. Nepal’s stop-start tournament continued with a six-wicket win over Qatar.

The closest game was between Hong Kong and Singapore where Singapore scraped home by one wicket off the penultimate ball.

The individual performance of the round came from Kuwait’s Khalid Butt who smashed 142 off 53 deliveries, including ten sixes, in his team’s nine-wicket win over Bahrain.

Afghanistan, Oman and UAE emerged as the frontrunners after the third day of the ACC Twenty20 Cup.

The match between Afghanistan and Hong Kong was expected to be one of the matches of the tournament, but Hong Kong, coming into the match on the back of successive defeats, again failed to impress. Afghanistan raced to 222 for 5 thanks to half centuries from Mohammed Shahzad (74 from 46 balls) and Mohammed Nabi (65 from 31) and Hong Kong almost gave up from the off as they meandered to 102 for 9.

Oman beat another disappointing side, Nepal, by 12 runs in a low-scoring game. Oman scraped 112 for 9 in their 20 overs, Dipendra Chaudhry turning in 4 for 19, but Nepal’s batsmen again failed as they were bowled out for 100.

Saudi Arabia and UAE went into their clash with 100% records, but Saudi Arabia struggled after a poor start and only managed 101 for 6, a score which never looked enough as UAE romped to a nine-wicket win in a little over half their overs. Mohammed Iqbal feasted on some average bowling to score 71 from 37 balls.

In a battle of the expats at Sharjah, Qatar edged past Bahrain by three runs in a game which went down to the last delivery. Bahrain needed four to win but Haroon Naseer was dismissed going for glory.

China were again outclassed as they went down by 132 runs to Singapore, limping to 93 for 7 when set a target of 226. Chetan Suryawanshi recorded the tournament’s second hundred, hammering a brutal 102 from 38 balls

Kuwait also eased to a straightforward win, beating Malaysia by 97 runs after bowling them out for 112.

The highly-fancied Nepal were taken to a bowl-out before they squeezed past over 2007 semi-finalists Kuwait, while Afghanistan, Malaysia, Oman, Saudi Arabia and UAE also registered wins on the second day of the ACC Twenty20 Cup.

Nepal dismissed Kuwait for 123 in 19.1 overs, Dependra Choudhari the pick of the bowlers with 4 for 11. Mahaboob Alam (32 from 33) appeared to have set Nepal on the way bit the middle order failed and it took a last-ball six from Binod Bhandari to send the game into a bowl-out. Nepal won that 3-2.

Oman were taken all the way by Qatar who scored an impressive 178 for 8, an innings built around a 38-ball 62 from Tamoor Sajjad. Oman lost early wickets but Adnan Ilyas (75 from 40) got the innings back on course and in the end they won by five wickets with nine balls in hand.

UAE managed 137 for 9 against Hong Kong but that proved too much, Hong Kong being restricted to 110 for 9 to slump to their second defeat in a row.

Afganistan dismissed Singapore for 96 in their allotted overs and then knocked off the runs in 12.4 overs to secure an eight-wicket win.

China, who continue to be fawned over by many at the top of the game, again failed in the middle as they struggled to 100 for 7 chasing Saudi Arabia’s 155 for 6.

Malaysia hit the highest total of the day, their 218 for 4 proving far too much for Bahrain who crashed to an 84-run defeat after managing 134 for 9.

Nepal, the odds-on favourites who have dominated recent Asian Cricket Council Under-19 tournaments, were brought down to earth with a bump by Hong Kong who sent them crashing to a 36-run defeat. The result means both teams go through to the semi-finals.

Irfan Ahmed was the star of the show for Hong Kong, thumping 103 off 101 balls in a score of 193 for 7. Nepal struggled from the off and were bowled out for 157, Irfan Ahmed making the Man-of-the-Match adjudication a formality with 3 for 72 while Shakeel Haq took 4 for 17.
In the other Group A match, Singapore beat Saudi Arabia by 39 runs.

With Afghanistan already through from Group B, the other place was between UAE and Qatar, and it was Qatar who went through, bowling Bhutan out for 69 and coasting to a nine-wicket win - UAE’s 130-run defeat of Oman wasn’t enough.

Afghanistan will play a shell-shocked Nepal, while Hong Kong meet Qatar

Nepal, the odds-on favourites who have dominated recent Asian Cricket Council Under-19 tournaments, were brought down to earth with a bump by Hong Kong who sent them crashing to a 36-run defeat. The result means both teams go through to the semi-finals.

Irfan Ahmed was the star of the show for Hong Kong, thumping 103 off 101 balls in a score of 193 for 7. Nepal struggled from the off and were bowled out for 157, Irfan Ahmed making the Man-of-the-Match adjudication a formality with 3 for 72 while Shakeel Haq took 4 for 17.
In the other Group A match, Singapore beat Saudi Arabia by 39 runs.

With Afghanistan already through from Group B, the other place was between UAE and Qatar, and it was Qatar who went through, bowling Bhutan out for 69 and coasting to a nine-wicket win - UAE’s 130-run defeat of Oman wasn’t enough.

Afghanistan will play a shell-shocked Nepal, while Hong Kong meet Qatar

Saudi Arabia pulled off a massive upset with a five-wicket win over Hong Kong on the third day of the ACC Under-19 Elite Cup in Kuwait. There were also wins for Qatar and UAE.

Hong Kong crashed to 89 for 7 after winning the toss, but an eighth-wicket stand of 137 between Waqas Barkat (84) and Aizaz Khan (66) appeared to have got them out of jail and they finished on 241. The Saudis lost early wickets but then Abdul Salam (68) and Hasan Bukhari (57*) added 118 for the fifth wicket before Salam was run out. While Bukhari kept his end up, Waqas Khalid thumped 40 from 29 balls to the Saudi Arabia home with 25 balls to spare.

UAE bounced back from their opening-day loss to beat Bhutan, but again they were well below par as they squeezed to a three-wicket win. Qatar had no problems seeing off Oman, bowling them out for 107 and then easing to a seven-wicket victory with almost 20 overs in hand.

Nepal and Afghanistan made it two wins out of two on the second day of the ACC Under-19 Elite Cup in Kuwait.

Nepal’s win was against Malaysia, one of the pre-tournament favourites, and it extended their winning run against them to seven matches. Malaysia batted on winning the toss and scored 203, built around 90 from Keithan. Gyanendra Malla, Nepal’s captain, made 86 not out as they passed the target with six wickets in hand.

Afghanistan dismissed Oman for 188 (their last five wickets fell for 20) and then cruised to an eight-wicket win as Iqbal Maliki (86)and Noor ul Haq (79) put on 157 for the first wicket.

Hong Kong opened their account with a four-wicket win over Singapore who they bowled out for 124, aided by no fewer than five run-outs. Jamie Atkinson, who made his first-class debut for Durham UCCE earlier this month, hit 61 to spearhead the chase.

Tony Munro:

Hemal Mehta, has been retained as Oman captain for the ICC World Cup Qualifers in South Africa in April. The Indian-born allrounder, who bowls slow left arm orthodox, successfully led Oman during their unbeaten run to the ACC Trophy Challenge title in Chiang Mai, Thailand last month, albeit against mediocre opposition.

Oman will field 11 of the squad which qualified for the tournament by finishing second in the World Cricket League Division 2 tournament in November-December 2007.

A notable absentee from the squad for next month is Hemin Desai, who opened the batting and bowling. Desai has left the country and did not play for Oman in the ACC Trophy Challenge.

Oman are in Group A and play their first match against Canada on April 1. Ireland, Namibia, Scotland and Uganda are the other teams in the group.

Squad: Hemal Mehta (capt), Sultan Ahmed (wk & vice-capt), Ameet Sampat, Rafeeq Mohammed Siyad Al Balushi , Adnan Ilyas Sulheri, Nileshkumar Parmar, Vaibhav Wayegaonkar, Syed Maqsood Hussain, Syed Amir Ali, Awal Khan, Farhan Khan, Haider Ali, Khalid Rasheed, Syed Tariq Hussain and Zeeshan Ahmad Siddiqui; Mazhar Khan (coach).

Allrounder Hemin Desai has left Oman and will not play for the country at the World Cup Qualifiers in South Africa in April.

Madhu Sampat, the secretary of the Oman Cricket Association, said Desai, who opened both the batting and bowling for Oman was now living in the United Arab Emirates. "I don't think it had anything to do with cricket," said Sampat, who declined to specify the reason for Desai's departure. "He cannot play for UAE until he has been a resident of the country for at least four years."

Desai, who was the Player of the Tournament at the 2004 Asian Cricket Council Trophy, was not a member of the victorious squad which won the ACC Trophy Challenge yesterday.

Sampat said Desai would be missed. “Hemin was an important member of the team - an allrounder who has bagged many a prize in the ACC tournaments and his absence will be felt very badly on the field of play.”
Tony Munro

Odds-on favourites Oman crushed Bhutan by 213 runs in the final of the Asian Cricket Council Challenge in Chiang Mai. Put into bat, Oman amassed 322 for 9 and then dismissed Bhutan for 109
.

Click here for the full report

Oman will meet Bhutan in Wednesday's final of the Asian Cricket Council Trophy Challenge in Chiang Mai after registering comprehensive wins in their semi-finals. Click here for the full report.

Oman and Thailand retained their unbeaten records with emphatic wins over Myanmar and China on the fourth day of the Asian Cricket Council Trophy Challenge in Chiang Mai, Thailand, but the standard of the teams continued to cause concern.

Click here for the full round-up.

China will make their debut in international cricket at the adult level at next month's ACC Trophy Challenge in Bangkok, with the spotlight very much on them after an appalling display in the Asian Cricket Council's Under-17 Challenge Cup in Bangkok last month.

Chaina have benefited from considerable funding by both the ACC and ICC, but a woeful display in Thailand raised considerable questions regarding the wisdom of the investments.

China will be in Group B, the weaker of the two which includes Maldives and Thailand. Their first match will be against Iran on January 13

Tournament favourites, Oman, are in Group A with Bhutan, Brunei and Myanmar.

Oman have an interesting playing schedule in the next few months. In January they play the likes of Myanmar and Brunei in the ACC Trophy Challenge and in April will contest the World Cup Qualifiers in South Africa against teams such as Ireland and Scotland.

Next week's ICC annual get-together promises to have more than its fair share of politicking, posturing and controversy. But, unless there is a major about-turn, it should also be a watershed for the Associates and Affiliates.

In 2009, income from the ICC's six-year media deal with ESPN-Star, worth over US$1 billion, kicks in, and while the game's big boys will still keep the lion's share, the rest will see substantial increases in their incomes.

Although the ICC draws considerable flak on many fronts, it is quietly committed to promoting the game in as many countries as possible, and it does that by means of a myriad of competitions and initiatives. Most do not warrant much media attention, but they are there and they work.

Until now, the gripe of the smaller countries, and especially those bubbling just underneath the top flight, has been about the inequality of the way in which the game is financed. That was never more apparent than when it came to earnings from last year's World Cup.

Ireland got a flat fee of US$125,000 a year for four years for taking part, and on top of that they received another $50,000 for reaching the Super Eights. However, because of the extra costs involved in their progression, not least because their players are not professional cricketers and their absences from their full-time jobs had to be underwritten, Ireland's success actually left the board out of pocket.

Zimbabwe, on the other hand, turned up, tied with Ireland and never threatened to progress after being thumped by Pakistan and West Indies. For those three matches, Zimbabwe Cricket received US$11 million, their share of the pot as a Full Member.

The top six Associates receive no more than US$500,000 a year - some substantially less - to fund their entire operations. Out of that they have to pay all their cricketing and administration costs. Only those with a low cost of living, such as Kenya, can hope to maintain a professional squad on that kind of money.

The gulf between the haves and have-nots is further widened by the limited sums Associates can earn from sponsorship and media contracts. Zimbabwe can exploit home series against, say, India to carve out lucrative TV deals worth millions, and on the back of that, attract shirt- and other corporate sponsorship. As highlighted by Scotland's failure to secure any TV deal for their forthcoming ODI against England, the Associates struggle to get such income streams.

The new deals will provide a substantial increase for Associates, especially for the countries who are pressing for space at the top table. Until now the share has been roughly equal, rewarding Netherlands and Kenya on par with Thailand and Fiji. The new system will see more demarcation between the top Associates and the rest.

The leading ten could earn as much as US$1.5 million a year from 2009. There will then be an onus on them to professionalise their administrations, but several of them are already well down that route. They will also be more accountable - the ICC does not want a repeat of the mess that came following a spike in Kenya's funding earlier in the decade.

The second-string Associates will also get more - around US$160,000 as a base figure - but then again the demands on them are less. Even Affiliates will receive US$15,000, with the opportunity for more should they make a good enough case. There will also be more cash in the pot for participating and hosting competitions.

There have never been more opportunities for development outside the Full Member countries, but there remain some nagging worries.

The main one is how to bridge the gap between semi and full-blown professionalism. Almost all the Associates rely on dedicated amateurs, both on and off the field. As the number of ICC competitions has increased - and they have to be welcomed - the pressure has begun to tell. Scotland and Ireland particularly have already found players cannot meet all their commitments, and even the increased income will not allow them to employ a full-time squad.

"So much of putting players on full-time retainers depends on how many fixtures we can command," Warren Deutrom, Cricket Ireland's chief executive, said. "At the moment, all we can promise the squad in 2009 is a World Cup qualifying campaign, eight FP Trophy matches, an England game, and probably some Intercontinental Cup matches. Of course, we hope to have more, but can't be sure at the moment.

"Our top players are already plying their trade in county cricket, while others have full-time jobs which they may not wish to give up. The actual number of players that the coach will want to put on a full-time contract, or else the number that even want to have one, may not be that many."

The other quandary is how to get them fixtures. Kenya, widely regarded as the leading Associate, have found it almost impossible to get Full Member countries to visit or host them. As a result they invariably play other Associates. Good for the win-loss ratio, not so clever in providing the kind of experience that no amount of money can buy.

These issues will need to be addressed, but for now the future has never looked so promising beyond the Test world.

The Asian Cricket Council has confirmed Malaysia as the venue for the 2008 ACC Trophy Elite Division. The 10-team tournament will be held from July 25 to August 3, with all matches likely to be staged in Kuala Lumpur.

It was also confirmed the ACC Trophy will be held as two separate tournaments for the first time.

The ACC Trophy Elite tournament will be contested by the top 10 ranked ACC members: Afghanistan, Bahrain, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Malaysia, Nepal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and the holders, the United Arab Emirates.

The ACC Trophy Challenge for the remaining ACC members is likely to be staged in Kuwait from January 11-17, 2009. Among the invitees are Bhutan, Brunei, Burma, China, Iran, the Maldives, Oman and Thailand, although it remains to be seen whether China fields a team.
Tony Munro

The number of people actively participating in cricket outside the Test-playing countries increased 17% in 2007, according to the ICC.

The research, carried out by the ICC's development program, was collated from 33 Associate and 58 Affiliate members. It showed that there were 338,051 male and female players in those countries in 2007, an increase of 49,158 on the previous year. Since 2002, when there were 144,047 participants, there has been a 135% rise.

Click here for the full story.

As revealed by Cricinfo last month, the 2011 World Cup will be shortened and the main victims of the change will be the Associate countries who will have their numbers cut from six to four.

"It is a move we both feared and expected and it's not great news for the Associates," Warren Deutrom, the chief executive of the Irish Cricket Union, told Cricinfo. "Neither is it a great vote of confidence in the ICC's own High Performance Programme.

Click here to tell us what you think of this? Is it the start of the gradual elimination of smaller countries from the World Cup or a necessary and welcome move?

	Singapore's captain Rezza Gaznavi receives the ACC Under-15 Elite Cup © ACC

Singapore defeated Kuwait by six wickets to win the ACC Under-15 Elite Cup in Bhaktapur, Nepal. It was, however, a slightly hollow victory, as eight of the ten competing sides had earlier been disqualified for fielding over-age players, and so Singapore and Kuwait contested the final as they were the only teams remaining in the competition.

The Asian Cricket Council had taken drastic action on Saturday and kicked out hosts and defending champions Nepal as well as Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Malaysia, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Thailand after its medical board reported that all the squads from those countries contained players over the stipulated age limit. Sunday's semi-finals - Nepal v Singapore and Afghanistan v Hong Kong - were scrapped.

Click here for the full story.

UAE underlined their ambition to take part in the 2011 World Cup by winning the World Cricket League Division Two tournament in Namibia, defeating Oman in the final. Denmark and Namibia also booked their place in the 2009 Qualifer, but Uganda and Argentina finished in the bottom two and were relegated back to Division Three.

Click here for Cricinfo’s full coverage of the tournament.

Afghanistan and Oman tied the final of the ACC Twenty20 Cup in Kuwait.

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The 2007 ACC Twenty20 Cup gets underway on October 27, a ten-team tournament held in Kuwait.

Hong Kong Cricket's website, which Cricinfo hosts, will have more once the tournament gets underway.

It won't get many column inches in the mainstream cricket press, but the World Cricket League, which started in Nairobi yesterday and continues into next week, features the best of the rest, the six sides just under the ten Test-playing countries. For the two finalists, the rewards are bountiful - a place among the big boys in the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa this September, along with $250,000. For countries used to surviving on annual handouts from the ICC of less than $200,000, that's big money.

With the exception of Bermuda, cricket is not a mainstream sport in any of the participants. And yet it survives, and in some instances thrives, despite the lack of attention and a relatively small number of enthusiasts.

The ICC, who do sterling work in supporting the game's second and third tiers, will rightly use the event to highlight that cricket is not just about the Indians and Australias of the world.

But there remains a nagging worry. The ICC boasts that the game is spreading across the world. But is that right? Is it taking root or is it surviving because more people from its hotbed - south-east Asia - are emigrating and keeping it alive for the duration of their careers?

In last year's Wisden Almanack, Matthew Engel raised this very issue. "Overwhelmingly, the game in non-traditional countries is played by expatriates, mostly South Asian. Journalists were kidded into believing that cricket was about to burst on China, on the basis of some warm comments by civil servants and a couple of coaching courses. I have seen not one shred of evidence to back this up. Are the kids playing with tapeballs on the streets of Shanghai? Are they heck!"

Take Canada. Of the squad in Nairobi at the moment, only three were born in the country, and two of those are over 35. Of the rest, five come from the Caribbean, four from India and each from Pakistan and Uganda. Whereas other Associates have a smattering of expats, Canada are utterly reliant on them.

Engel's comment attracted fierce criticism from those who either argued that England had more than their share of "imports" or that the game only spread in Asia, Africa, Australasia and the Caribbean through expats playing it in the first place.

The worry in some countries is that rather the game is not being continued by the second and third generations but is only being maintained by a steady flow of new immigrants

With regards to England, yes there have been quite a few non English-born players who have been picked for the side, but the game still has a massive stronghold in the country. The selection has been more about improving a solid side. And as for the ex-pats argument? Well, yes, but that's the crucial point. In the regions flagged the game was brought in but it was then embraced by the indigenous population and taken on as their own. This is exemplified no better than in CLR James's seminal work, Beyond A Boundary.

The worry in some countries - and again I come back to Canada - is that rather the game is not being continued by the second and third generations but is only being maintained by a steady flow of new immigrants. Canada's cricket heritage is rich but there is little sign that it has been built on. This is best underlined by the selection of former West Indies international Anderson Cummins. Forty years old and without a major match to his name since 1995-96, he made his debut in Mombasa last week. What message does that send out about the strength in depth of cricket in Canada?

It's not just Canada. Look at the USA, whose 2004 Champions Trophy side was a collection of ageing expats whose performances verged on the disgraceful. And the UAE, which is almost entirely dependant on its ex-pat workforce to keep the game alive.

Cricket's expansion should not be about filling teams with expats and expecting the locals to get excited about it. The only way cricket can gain a foothold in emerging countries is by actually getting the indigenous population to embrace the game, and two excellent examples where this is happening are Nepal and Uganda.

Anderson Cummins of Barbados, West Inbies ... and now Canada © Eddie Norfolk

Does it matter? Yes, because as the ICC looks to develop the game in as many places as possible, that means the financial cake has to be cut in ever thinner slices. The ICC needs to concentrate on a smaller number of countries where the chances of the game taking off. It is invidious that Uganda gets the same basic allowance as Belgium.

Cricket is in trouble in its traditional homes in Africa - Zimbabwe are hell-bent on destruction and South Africa seems to be falling out of love with the game. So efforts should be made in Uganda . And in Asia, which everyone accepts is the game's stronghold, a side like Nepal should really be given the leg up. It's about targeting rather than a scattergun approach.

In fairness to the ICC, they have a tough time and a lot of countries scrambling for a share of the spoils. It's about weeding out the weak and really looking to grow the game in areas where it has the best chance of taking root. It's an almost impossible ask. Look at the repeated failure of American Football to crack Europe ... and if football itself still battles for acceptance outside expats and schools in the USA, then the size of the ICC's task becomes clear.

Of course expats have a key role to play in expansion. But if the game is basically played by them, is it the game spreading or is it more about diehards clinging to the traditions of their homelands? In the UK there are baseball and American football sides, but they are almost all expat Americans and so few would seriously claim the games have taken hold. However, basketball and ice hockey are widely played by locals, boosted by some imported players and expats, and, crucially, the national side can stand on its own two feet. That's the difference.

A group of Omani national cricketers are trying to form a breakaway group after the Oman Cricket Club, who run the game in the country, backed by the Sports Ministry, refused to bow to their demands for more representation in the national side.

"Our doors are always open and we have done everything to convince the group to continue playing in the tournaments organised by us," Maqbool Yousuf Al Lawati, vice president of the OCC, told Gulf News. "They [the Omani nationals] wanted 60% representation in the national team. We cannot accept that condition as we are here to pick the best and cricket is not played only by the Omani nationals, every resident in the country must get a fair chance, including expatriates."

A group of about 90 Omani nationals, three-quarters of the country’s players, have started playing their own tournament outside the official league in protest against OCC's refusal to accept their demands which the elected board members of the OCC termed as 'unreasonable'.

The Oman Cricket Club Academy launches today:

The launch of the academy was delayed by a few weeks due to the annual examinations at the various schools. Several qualified coaches including Omani nationals will be attached to the academy to carry out the coaching functions and each one of them will be assigned days/times during each week.

Rajinder Singh Rawat, an ACC Level II coach who was the assistant coach of the Oman senior team on the tour to the Republic of Ireland for the ICC Trophy 2005 during June-July 2005, will supervise the various functions related to coaching.

More info at the Times of Oman