US, Oman make history in cricket world by gaining ICC's ODI status

These 2 teams get ODI status from ICC after World Cricket league matches

A country known predominantly for the game of Baseball, the US has achieved a special accolade on the global stage in Cricket. The men's side on Wednesday sealed one-day international status for the first time with a third straight victory at the World Cricket League Division 2 event in Namibia. America's only prior experience at International cricket has been the 2004 Champions Trophy.

Great scenes of joy from the whole #TeamUSA camp as we guarantee a Top 4 place at #WCL2 and with it, ODI Status, for the first time in our history#WeAreUSACricket🇺🇲 pic.twitter.com/j1KHhZQUU5

— USA Cricket (@usacricket) April 24, 2019

The International Cricket Council after evaluating performances in phase 2 of ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup league has granted US and Oman ODI status in men's cricket and it announced it via an official release on their website.

Tonight's the night everyone's been waiting for...@usacricket 🇺🇸claim ODI status under the leadership of Captain America! pic.twitter.com/5nxXWo3npO

— ICC (@ICC) April 24, 2019

Oman had on Wednesday defeated Namibia in their clash and have won all matches of the league played at home. The other 2 sides they have beaten are Namibia and US. Ahead of the final, Oman is all set to take on Papua New Guinea.

Incidentally, they got the ODI status 45 minutes after the US entry. After the triumph against Hongkong skipper Maqsood said the unit is happy but the mission is far from being completed.

Image credit: Twitter @ICC

America, on the other hand, has won 2 of its 3 matches in the ongoing tournament. Their course of the tournament has been pretty topsy turvy. After the loss against Oman by 6 wickets, USA scraped past Namibia by just a couple of runs.

For America the game against Hong Kong was a must win in order to stake a claim for the ODI status. Former West Indies batsman Javier Marshall scored a ton while Steven Tailor made an eye-catching 88 as they beat Hong Kong by a heavy margin of 84 runs.

Both Oman and the USA joined Scotland, Nepal and the UAE in League 2, where they will play 36 ODIs each over a two-and-a-half year period on the road to Men's Cricket World Cup 2023. There will be 20 ODI nations after the end of the tournament.

Bottom Line: Late ICC and BCCI President Jagmohan Dalmiya always felt that Cricket needs more nations competing to eventually have a fan base at par with Football in the coming years. ICC CEO David Richardson has said in recent interviews that the penetration of the gentleman's game into unexplored quarters with great potential, is high on the governing body's agenda.

Trivia

1. The US played against Canada in 1844 which was their first match in international cricket. The country became a member of the ICC in 1965.

2. Oman have played 20 T20Is so far. They are yet to play an ODI.