The 20-odd km journey from Ruwi – considered the nerve center of Muscat for a very long time – to Al Amerat is so charming one feels like reliving it again, and again. It’s a breathtaking journey for its beauty. As the mountainous stretch starts winding down, you start getting closer to the populated areas and, then, it’s Al Amerat.
A few roundabouts later, one reaches the first cricket ground. There are two others around the same venue.
Back then during my school days, these were practice grounds where league matches, especially for junior teams, were held mostly on weekends. In the Sultanate of Oman, Friday and Saturday are the off days. There was a time the weekends were Thursday-Friday but that changed to Friday-Saturday a long time ago.
In many ways, the Al Amerat cricket ground – now called Oman Cricket Academy Ground (OCAG) – has the potential to become for Oman what Mumbai’s Shivaji Park ground is to India, which has produced a long list of National cricketers including legends like Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and others.
The center of cricket in Oman
One can also consider Al Amerat as the cricket capital of the Sultanate. During my Indian School Muscat (ISM) days, it was here that we schoolboys would slug it out on grassless grounds and the scoreboards oozing out that feel of the traditional days of cricket – the scorer changing the score physically, for example. It looked so beautiful – with its old-world charm written all over. There were shaded areas where parents used to sit or lurk around as their wards would wield the willow or try make the red cherry count every time they bowled.
The atmosphere at these cricket grounds was almost always jovial and you got that feel of this-place-will-take-us-kids-to-cricket’s-big-stage. Ask any parent who has driven down their wards to Al Amerat – as my dad did for many years while I tried honing my cricket skills – for a league match and the look on their faces will tell you all.
So, it came as little surprise when Al Amerat actually went on to earn a special place in the world of cricket. The wonderful state-of-the-art facilities at the Oman Cricket Academy Ground received the ICC’s approval and Oman is now an accredited Test, One-day International (ODI) and T20 International venue. And to top it all, it will be here that the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 will kick off with hosts Oman taking on Papua New Guinea in the opener on October 17.
Oman is the co-host of the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 with the UAE and the first round Group B featuring hosts Oman, Bangladesh, PNG and Scotland will be played at the Oman Cricket Academy Ground with the top two teams from the group advancing to the Super12s stage in the UAE.
ICC recognition: A phenomenal achievement
It’s been a phenomenal achievement to say the least. And the road to this success snakes through the picturesque environs of Al Amerat, a place that has shined as the pivotal foundation and is now firmly ensconced in Oman’s cricketing history.
Oman Cricket was formed in 1979 with Kanaksi Khimji as president and other founder members. The modern era of cricket began in Oman in the 1970s, spearheaded by the enthusiasm of the Khimji patriarch, often referred to as “the godfather of cricket in Oman”.
The Late Kanaksi, an ardent lover of cricket and the founding chairman of Oman Cricket Club (now called Oman Cricket), worked tirelessly to enhance the level of the game in the Sultanate, and was awarded the prestigious Pepsi – ICC Lifetime Service Award 2011 by the International Cricket Council. Today, Oman cricket is growing from strength to strength, thanks to the efforts put in by him and other board members and backed by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth of Oman.
Former Sri Lankan Test captain Duleep Mendis, who is the chief coach of Oman cricket team and the OC Chief Development Officer (CDO), has also been a huge factor in this success story. Not many would have seen such success coming Oman’s way when Mendis began his inning as the coach in 2012. He led Oman to maiden T20 World Cup in 2016. He repeated the feat when Oman qualified for the T20 World Cup in 2020, which is being played this year due to the cancellation of the event in Australia following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
Oman Cricket Academy, in fact, is one of the finest coaching facilities in the Gulf region and has unearthed many a talented cricketer. After the UAE, it is only Oman from the Gulf region and an ICC Associate Member nation status, which allows Oman to play in the ODIs, and T20Is.
Pankaj Khimji, Late Kanaksi’s son, is taking this journey forward with his leadership skills and vision and is now the OC chairman. He has been the force behind bringing the big-ticket T20 World Cup to Oman and other ODI and T20I series.
Recently, Mumbai, India’s domestic cricket giants, toured Oman for a T20 and one-day series under Amol Muzumdar. With the world’s leading cricket nations travelling to Oman to play top-class cricket at the OCAG, it gives me great pride to say that this was the very place where I played my school cricket.
And must I say here, as the saying goes, ‘well begun is half the job done’…
Main Image of Al Amerat Cricket Stadium courtesy Wikipedia.org
Best wishes Mr Hamood, reading your article is real fun like going back to our days at Mohalla Cricket Field. I am sure you will come out in life at great heights with your leadership and analytical skills.