The Maldives men’s National Cricket Team recently returned from the Asian Cricket Council Western Region T20 Tournament held in Oman. Despite losing all four group matches and finishing in bottom place there is much to be positive about, both as a squad and individually.
Full Tournament statistics and scorecards Here
Experienced Head Coach Asif Khan, appointed in August 2018 and tasked to develop the National Teams began in earnest with the men’s senior team implementing new ideas and coaching practices honed from his years in South African cricket and various international coaching posts.
After completing training tours of Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Qatar, carefully crafted by the CBM President and CBM Executive; the Senior Mens Squad Management Team of Asif Khan, Neesham Nasir and Mahmood Riyaz had a target to improve on performances from the ICC T20 Tournament played in April 2018 – against the same teams.
Notably, fast bowler Hassan Ibrahim and batsman Mohamed Rishwan made their marks on the tournament with 9 wickets and 147 runs respectively – claiming 2nd and 3rd spots in overall individual performances.
The runs accumulated in each match were indeed an improvement on last years tournament performances and working as a squad to deliver the match plans is shown by the squad fighting until the last ball to win.
The squad is scheduled to travel to Pakistan in March to utilise the Pakistan Cricket Board National Academy once again. The CBM recognises and appreciates the work done by the Pakistan Ambassador to Maldives, Wasim Akram and his team of staff based in Malé.
