After more than a year since the conclusion of the multi-nation tournament, Oman Cricket (OC) has agreed to release the long-withheld prize money for its players and support staff. The board announced it will disburse $225,000 by July 2025. The decision, however, does little to heal the players whose careers have been permanently affected due to the payment delay.
The Oman players’ struggle began shortly after the T20 World Cup ended. In a statement, the OC said the delay in releasing the money had been ‘procedural’ and was mainly due to pending post-event clarifications from the International Cricket Council (ICC). ICC, on the other hand, claims they made payments to all participating teams on time.
As per the ICC’s terms, the prize money should have reached the players within 21 days of the board receiving it. The money, however, never reached the players.
This left them with only one last option: to threaten to pull out of the Emerging Asia Cup Tournament in October last year. The board, though, was brutally indifferent in its response and suspended the central contracts of eleven players on the eve of the tournament. Without contracts, expat players had to leave the country.
Even now, Oman Cricket is firm that it has done its part by being transparent with players about the payment throughout. The OC chairman, Pankaj Khimji, pinned the blame for escalating the situation on the cricketers.
“The players had every right to seek clarity, and we were transparent about the timelines involved,” said Pankaj Khimji.
“But to walk out at the last moment — just hours before representing the nation — was not only irresponsible, but it was also an insult to the entire team, the coaching staff, the board, and most importantly, the nation they were supposed to serve.”
Players did take up the matter with the World Cricketers’ Association (WCA), but that, too, did not end up well for the players. Khimji criticised the players for reaching out to WCA, and alleged that the global body ‘misled’ the players into going the wrong way and ‘encouraged them to abandon their duties under the guise of advocacy.’
WCA CEO Tom Moffat, though, said that the association will continue helping ‘vulnerable’ cricketers across the world.
“We are pleased to see that Oman Cricket has put a timeline on paying the players the prize money almost a year after they received the money from the ICC, and almost a year after it should have been paid to the players under the ICC terms of participation,” Moffat said.
“Every player in the world should be afforded a safe space to raise concerns and advocate for themselves. It’s incredibly sad that the majority of Oman’s men’s World Cup team have lost their careers, employment, and were in turn forced to leave the country for doing so. WCA will always assist players who come to it for help, especially those who are vulnerable or who face with extremely imbalanced and unhealthy power dynamics.”
Oman Cricket says that it has now set up an internal committee to investigate the matter and ensure such ‘communication gaps’ do not occur in the future.
“This was an isolated incident, but it showed us the need for stronger systems,” Alkesh Joshi, the board’s treasurer, said. “We will ensure that players are never left uncertain about their entitlements — but also that professional commitments are never compromised.”
