Oman Cricket agrees to clear players' dues from 2024 T20 World Cup

Oman Cricket (OC) has finally agreed to pay the members of its men's T20 World Cup squad the prize money due to them from that tournament, claiming that the long delay in clearing the dues was "procedural". In a statement put out on Monday, OC said the US$225,000 amount would be disbursed to the squad and support staff by July 2025.

ESPNcricinfo had reported earlier this month that players from the Oman squad had not been paid, a year after the event held in the USA and the Caribbean in June 2024.

Agreements participating boards sign with the ICC for events stipulate that prize money must be disbursed to players within 21 days of the board having received it from the ICC. That money, the ICC confirmed, had been sent to OC on time, though the latter claimed in its statement "that the delay in disbursement was procedural, dependent on formal post-event clarifications from the ICC, which are typically received after global tournaments".

The players raised the issue of non-payment not long after the event, and matters came to a head last October, at the emerging teams Asia Cup, when the Oman players resolved to take unified action. That led to the players threatening to not play and being told to leave a day before the tournament began.

Eventually, 11 of the players from that 15-man squad had their central contracts suspended and most had to leave Oman. As with most Gulf states, residency in the country is tied to employment and, in this case, a number of players had their employment revoked, compelling them to leave the country.

Oman Cricket acknowledged that players had raised the matter but said that officials, including chairman Pankaj Khimji "had repeatedly assured the players that payments would be made in full following the ICC's confirmation of the allocation and structure." The players contend that the board's assurances - by that stage already four months late on the payments - had begun to sound hollow.

The board blamed the players for escalating the situation and refusing to play, which they claimed put Oman's international commitment "at serious risk".

"The players had every right to seek clarity, and we were transparent about the timelines involved," Khimji said in the statement.

The players sought help from the World Cricketers' Association (WCA) after being made aware of the avenue by players from Canada and Nepal - who had faced similar difficulties. Khimji criticised WCA's involvement, saying the global players' body "misled" the players and "encouraged them to abandon their duties under the guise of advocacy."

The WCA CEO Tom Moffat told ESPNcricinfo: "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.

"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 said it had constituted an internal committee to investigate "the communication gap" around issues of prize money as well as to avoid such a situation in the future. "This was an isolated incident, but it showed us the need for stronger systems," the board treasurer Alkesh Joshi said in the statement. "We will ensure that players are never left uncertain about their entitlements -- but also that professional commitments are never compromised."