Cricket4Her initiative inspiring hundreds of female cricketers in Oman

Implementing the Cricket4Her initiative to facilitate the growth of women’s cricket in the country, Oman has experienced much success in spreading the popularity of the sport.

The programme sets out to gradually introduce girls to hardball cricket while also fostering a competitive spirit, with the overarching aim being to create a sizeable talent pool of cricket-playing women and girls within the nation.

Cricket4Her has been integrated within various schools and attracted over 300 female participants to softball tournaments, with Oman’s programme even earning the acclaim of the ICC, when it was named 100% Cricket Female Cricket Initiative of the Year in the ICC Development Awards.

Humbled to be acknowledged by the sport’s global governing body, Oman Cricket sponsorship and marketing lead Richa Sharma is hopeful that her country can set an example for others in developing the women’s game.

Sharma said, “It's great, the hard work which the entire team has put in and finally we got recognised by ICC. The team here is now more enthusiastic and inspired about working towards women's cricket development here in Oman.

“We see the Cricket4Her initiative as a transformative force in reshaping women's cricket in Oman and hopefully around other regions across the globe.

“Our primary goal is to establish a robust domestic structure for women's cricket and to prepare our teams to compete in the ICC women's pathway.

“We hope that in seeing our progress and our efforts in developing women's cricket here in Oman, our counterparts definitely get inspired to take such initiatives to advance women's cricket in their region as well.”

While cricket has been popular in Oman for decades, the women’s team used to struggle to meet the participation requirements to play in the ICC’s pathway events.

As such, Oman Cricket became determined to mould female talent from the ground up to strengthen their talent pool, while also attempting to lure former cricketers back to the sport.

“The idea behind this entire women's cricket development programme is to develop a robust domestic structure here in Oman and eventually create a pathway for girls to transition into the national team and play a competitive form of cricket for us,” Sharma added.

“To introduce girls to cricket, we came up with this idea of conducting softball tournaments. This was basically even for someone who's very new to sport.

“The idea behind the softball tournament was to introduce girls to the sport in a fun and accessible manner and eventually transition them to play hardball cricket.

“Through these softball tournaments, we have seen participation across various age groups; school girls, college girls, and even mothers.

“These tournaments have also rekindled the passion for cricket among women who had previously stepped away from the sport, but are now back playing the sport.”

Oman’s men’s team most recently captivated the nation as they took part in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024, doing so for the third time in their history.

Their World Cup journey has only inspired the women’s team to shoot for the stars and emulate the exploits of their male counterparts.

“When the men's team participated for the third time in the T20 World Cup, the women's side was quite inspired and enthusiastic,” Sharma said.

“Now we can also look at the pathway which would eventually lead us to play that level of cricket.”