Development & Progress of Cricket in the Middle East

[Firebat]

The Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) is planning to replicate the model of the highly successful franchise-based IPL T20 league by starting its own such tournament later this year. Abu Dhabi already hosts an annual T10 league which attracts some of the known names from the world of international cricket.

The league has been sanctioned by ECB chairman Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan with the board exploring the December-January window to kickoff the event. “Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) is pleased to announce that UAE’s own exclusive T20 league has been sanctioned by ECB Chairman His Highness Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan to Dubai Sports City and will soon be held in the UAE. The dates being considered are December 2021 and January 2022,” ECB said in a statement on Tuesday.

It hopes that the franchise based event will attract major international cricketers similar to the other T20 leagues being held around the globe. The modalities of the league are being finalised with Khalid Al Zarooni, ECB Vice Chairman, hoping it will help in the further development cricket in UAE.

“We see this League as another premier addition to our growing tournament calendar. Emirates Cricket, and the UAE, has a proven history of identifying and embracing initiatives that underpin the success of the game, as well as encourage and develop home-grown talent,” Zarooni said in a statement.

“We are delighted with the launch of our own T20 League, one we believe will enhance the growth and popularity of cricket being played in the UAE. We also envisage that UAE-based players will continue to flourish through such opportunities as they continue to make their mark on the international stage,” ECB Board Member Tayeb Kamali, said in a statement.

UAE already boasts the experience of hosting T20 leagues including the IPL last season and Pakistan Super League as well.

https://www.cricketcountry.com/news/coming-soon-an-ipl-style-t20-franchise-league-in-uae-970000

 

[silentkiller187]

ICC needs to sanction its own club league, and end all these other leagues popping up all over the world.

3/4 divisions , 10-15 teams in each division , relegation/promotion format. Get all players to register hold one big draft at the start and then follow a transfer model similar to football going forward.

That way you can regulate it, fit it into the calendar easily and there's enough cricket to keep everyone happy. Could even take the league on the road, part of the season in UK, part in india, part in UAE part in AUS etc.

Fans can get behind one team , and actually build rapport with players, at present it seems like a franchise will have a completely new look every time a season starts.

 

[Titan24]

So they will be competing with Big Bash for the foreign players around that window. Also what exactly is IPL style? As there isnt necessarily a particular style associated to IPL other than auctions, big contracts, cheerleaders and separate window so not sure which of these aspects are they going to cover to call it IPL style.

 

[IMMY69]

There can never be an IPL style league because India does not care about other countries and their leagues.
If they did then their players would be playing in one or two of these leagues..

 

[Rana]

Oh for the love of God...

 

[hitthestump]

Also what exactly is IPL style?

Not $ure £ith€r

 

[hitthestump]

ICC needs to sanction its own club league, and end all these other leagues popping up all over the world.

3/4 divisions , 10-15 teams in each division , relegation/promotion format. Get all players to register hold one big draft at the start and then follow a transfer model similar to football going forward.

That way you can regulate it, fit it into the calendar easily and there's enough cricket to keep everyone happy. Could even take the league on the road, part of the season in UK, part in india, part in UAE part in AUS etc.

Fans can get behind one team , and actually build rapport with players, at present it seems like a franchise will have a completely new look every time a season starts.

All well and good but league cricket has nothing to do with creating a great cricket product and everything to do with making as much money for the organisers as possible.

The only way we end these external leagues is by not watching it, talking about it or acknowledging it at all. The PCB also needs to step in and make it very clear that nobody gets NOC's for any tamasha like this while domestics are going on.

 

[Mamoon]

ICC needs to sanction its own club league, and end all these other leagues popping up all over the world.

3/4 divisions , 10-15 teams in each division , relegation/promotion format. Get all players to register hold one big draft at the start and then follow a transfer model similar to football going forward.

That way you can regulate it, fit it into the calendar easily and there's enough cricket to keep everyone happy. Could even take the league on the road, part of the season in UK, part in india, part in UAE part in AUS etc.

Fans can get behind one team , and actually build rapport with players, at present it seems like a franchise will have a completely new look every time a season starts.

Yes because ICC can get rid of IPL and create its own league and BCCI will say sure, why not.

It is fine to come up with your opinions but what is the point if it is not within the realms of reality.

 

[Mamoon]

All well and good but league cricket has nothing to do with creating a great cricket product and everything to do with making as much money for the organisers as possible.

The only way we end these external leagues is by not watching it, talking about it or acknowledging it at all. The PCB also needs to step in and make it very clear that nobody gets NOC's for any tamasha like this while domestics are going on.

There is no way to end these leagues. It is the natural evolution of cricket. People will need to evolve along with the game instead of restricting the evolution just because it does not fit with the model that they are comfortable with.

International cricket will carry on regardless. They will always be enough players willing to represent their country, and no league other than IPL is going to get a dedicated window in the near or distant future.

Besides, even if international cricket dies out in 40-50 years, so be it. A lot of people will not follow the game anymore but others will, and life will go on.

Cricket fans are so insecure and vulnerable it is unbelievable. The resistance to change is ridiculous.

 

[Mamoon]

Sports and the dynamics in which they are played changes with time. Nothing stays the same forever.

You cannot resist change. Cricket fans need to make peace with the reality of franchise cricket. It will keep growing and growing and you cannot do anything about it.

When this generation of cricket fans die out, the next generation of fans will not have a problem.

Young kids who are getting into the game now are comfortable with this model because this is what they have been exposed to, and watching Mumbai Indians or Lahore Qalandars play will mean as much to them as watching India or Pakistan play.

People of our generation have a problem because they cannot accept the fact that the game of cricket has changed considerably in the 21st century.

People do not like change. It is understandable, but cricket fans take their insecurity to a whole new level.

 

[HappyWarsFan]

Sports and the dynamics in which they are played changes with time. Nothing stays the same forever.

You cannot resist change. Cricket fans need to make peace with the reality of franchise cricket. It will keep growing and growing and you cannot do anything about it.

When this generation of cricket fans die out, the next generation of fans will not have a problem.

Young kids who are getting into the game now are comfortable with this model because this is what they have been exposed to, and watching Mumbai Indians or Lahore Qalandars play will mean as much to them as watching India or Pakistan play.

People of our generation have a problem because they cannot accept the fact that the game of cricket has changed considerably in the 21st century.

People do not like change. It is understandable, but cricket fans take their insecurity to a whole new level.

No. Im a "young kid" who only started following in around21009-10 and I am a test cricket fan who hates IPL, PSL etc. And franchises. And lots of people I know who are like me as well. Can't generalize that "the new generation" only likes franchise cricket.

 

[HappyWarsFan]

No. Im a "young kid" who only started following in around21009-10 and I am a test cricket fan who hates IPL, PSL etc. And franchises. And lots of people I know who are like me as well. Can't generalize that "the new generation" only likes franchise cricket.

2009-10*

 

[MHN1293]

At this rate every new country that becomes familiar with cricket will look at t20 leagues as the best possible way for cricket development. I can see most of these leagues overlapping other leagues in the future. In the end only the current set of 6-7 leagues will stay revelant. Back then the icc should have limited the ipl and the bbl to take place once every two or once every 3 years. However hard to see how bcci would agree to that now.

 

[Mamoon]

No. Im a "young kid" who only started following in around21009-10 and I am a test cricket fan who hates IPL, PSL etc. And franchises. And lots of people I know who are like me as well. Can't generalize that "the new generation" only likes franchise cricket.

You are not a regular young cricket fan. You are a cricket nerd like all of us which is why you spend half of your day discussing cricket on the Internet.

99% of cricket fans of your generation do not share your passion and obsession.

A common problem with the PP community is that we feel that we represent the average cricket fan. No we do not. We are cricket nerds and we do not even make up 0.1% of the cricket loving population.

Our opinions, views and interests do not reflect general taste and they are ones who influence ICC decision-making.

 

[silentkiller187]

Yes because ICC can get rid of IPL and create its own league and BCCI will say sure, why not.

It is fine to come up with your opinions but what is the point if it is not within the realms of reality.

Its always good to dream, i think for crickets sustainability this is the best way forward, but like you said trying to take the piece of the pie out of the BCCI hands will be near enough impossible.

 

[HappyWarsFan]

You are not a regular young cricket fan. You are a cricket nerd like all of us which is why you spend half of your day discussing cricket on the Internet.

99% of cricket fans of your generation do not share your passion and obsession.

A common problem with the PP community is that we feel that we represent the average cricket fan. No we do not. We are cricket nerds and we do not even make up 0.1% of the cricket loving population.

Our opinions, views and interests do not reflect general taste and they are ones who influence ICC decision-making.

Fair enough. However I do use other cricket communities that have a wider audience than than PP (reddit) and they are generally enjoy test cricket a lot too, and tend to think while franchise cricket is good, it shouldn't be overdone. I think there's a balance for all kinds of fans, and the current mix is fine as it is.

You could argue anyone on a cricket forum is a nerd, fair enough, but there is a lot of cricket needs out there. I don't think franchise cricket will ever take over.

 

[Mamoon]

Fair enough. However I do use other cricket communities that have a wider audience than than PP (reddit) and they are generally enjoy test cricket a lot too, and tend to think while franchise cricket is good, it shouldn't be overdone. I think there's a balance for all kinds of fans, and the current mix is fine as it is.

You could argue anyone on a cricket forum is a nerd, fair enough, but there is a lot of cricket needs out there. I don't think franchise cricket will ever take over.

The percentage of people who will be obsessed enough to talk about cricket over the Internet will always remain very, very low.

This is freakish level of passion for the game. Most people do not have that.

An average young cricket fan is way more interested in Limited Overs compared to Test cricket.

They are not going to spend all their day watching a Test match.

 

[Zeshan547]

just go full football style and scrap bilaterals,. only ODI WC and Test championship and scrap international t20s for good, even the Wt20, all t20s played on in leagues and ICC should have a fair Champions league tournament like football for franchise cricket. This is the natural evolution of cricket. This half hearted schedule is going to be a curse and burden for cricket.

 

[JaDed]

Its always good to dream, i think for crickets sustainability this is the best way forward, but like you said trying to take the piece of the pie out of the BCCI hands will be near enough impossible.

Should Fifa make one football league instead of all these clubs?

Also India is not a rich country per se, we need the league for our boys who dream to play or be associated with it in any capacity.

 

[MenInG]

UAE has the money, and grounds and interest to make this happen - all power to them.

 

[TNAmarkFromIndia]

just go full football style and scrap bilaterals,. only ODI WC and Test championship and scrap international t20s for good, even the Wt20, all t20s played on in leagues and ICC should have a fair Champions league tournament like football for franchise cricket. This is the natural evolution of cricket. This half hearted schedule is going to be a curse and burden for cricket.

They already tried a T20 Champions League before. It got a poor response so it was scrapped.

 

[burger_uno]

great news. more the merrier i say. hopefully qatar will get involved as well. in fact if gcc arabs had any sense, and we know the answer to that, they would launch an intra-gcc league instead of what is being proposed. such a competition might get some local interest when run along nationalistic lines for example when a riyadh based team plays against qatar linked team. otherwise, unlikely that a uae only league will get enough crowd support. attendance was not great for psl when it was played in dubai. hard to see pakistanis expats getting involved in big numbers when there is no connection to pak. indians expats might attend if indian players participate but there are remote chances of top-tier indian players being given noc for such an endeavour.

for cricket fans, expansion of t-20 leagues is a positive development because it separates wheat from the chaff. more power to those who only want to play franchise cricket. for test team, i would rather have players fully committed to pak. there should be no room for free agents like mohd amir in intl setup.

cricket is different from football when it comes to player development. in football, clubs identify potential talent from a very young age and oversee player development. as a result of their investment, clubs possess economic control of players under contract. for example, when manu wanted to sign chritsiano ronaldo they had to pay a substantial fee to porto who had cr in its book.

cricket is different because in most countries, it is the national board that is responsible for player development. shaheen shah afridi is where he is because of pcb. it will be an economic loss for pcb if tomorrow, ssa or babar azam decide they want to play franchise cricket against wishes of pcb. consequently, there must be a buyout clause in player contract with pcb if player wants to opt out. this is not to say that pcb should not work with foreign leagues because such leagues might provide additional income-stream. players not part of test squad should not be stopped as long as pcb gets a cut.

as for future of test cricket, i am not concerned. this issue has been debated in england since 1960's when test attendance declined drastically. in comparison test matches are sold out these days with more cities bidding than games available. issue will be in places like s.a. and pak and here icc can help by ensuring that test cricket generates enough interst. no one wants to see a batting bore-fest. for test cricket to be attractive, we have to see a fair balance between bat and ball between even matched teams. thats a topic for another day.

their is little overlap between fans of t-20 and those of test cricket. obviously psl will attract local interest some of which will filter to test cricket. however very unlikely there will be much local interest in foreign tamasha league. people in pakistan who follow ipl are those who are fans of hindi item number songs. this demographic will never be test cricket fans and no point catering to them. better strategy is to work with other boards to ensure test/odi cricket remains a competitive "product".

return of cricket to pak has given another dimension to intl cricket. situation is analogous to what we saw after re-entry of south africa. lots of interesting development in our sport recently. hopefully boards/associations will capitalize on it.

 

[RyanRyan10]

The percentage of people who will be obsessed enough to talk about cricket over the Internet will always remain very, very low.

This is freakish level of passion for the game. Most people do not have that.

An average young cricket fan is way more interested in Limited Overs compared to Test cricket.

They are not going to spend all their day watching a Test match.

Agree with you.

The cricket fans need to understand that sports is an industry and it needs money to survive.

Most of the cricket fans from Subcontinent enjoy limited formats more than the test format. The test format loving population is very small and I am pretty sure that most of such fans have enough people around them who prefer watching limited formats. Most fans in India would take WC trophy over 2 series wins in Australia.

Many of my friends watch only IPL and ICC events. The international matches against weaker sides at times have had less viewership than Kabaddi League. Star Sports has already given up on broadcast of matches in England and Australia.

These leagues have also made cricket fans more aware about upcoming stars in their country, something which domestic tournaments couldn't do. Fans are nowadays more aware about uncapped players as compared to a decade ago.

Some top players skip international series but how many of them miss out on IPL or PSL? If cricketers are prioritizing these leagues then I don't understand why are fans so insecure?

These T20 leagues have also done well for the associates and the newly recruit test nations. Afghanistan players are getting contracts in every league, Sandeep Lamichhane from Nepal has played in every big league, Paul Stirling of Ireland featured in LPL and BPL (few seasons back) and there are many such examples. How many of us would have known Lamichhane if the T20 leagues weren't existing?

Even T20 WC qualifiers or Odi WC qualifiers are followed more than Intercontinental Cup, the First-Class tournament for associate teams.

These leagues should continue to grow, it will be good for the game. Players from "non-cricketing nations" can get to make a name for themselves in these leagues. These leagues are the only way this sport can grow in associate nations.

 

[Bewal Express]

This will be get very interesting. The UAE has no interest in international cricket and If the big money is put on the table for players, it could be the biggest revolution in cricket since Packer.

 

[silentkiller187]

Should Fifa make one football league instead of all these clubs?

Also India is not a rich country per se, we need the league for our boys who dream to play or be associated with it in any capacity.

Football is exactly the model I’m asking cricket to follow, players playing for 4/5 teams a season is getting boring.

 

[Gharib Aadmi]

At this rate every new country that becomes familiar with cricket will look at t20 leagues as the best possible way for cricket development. I can see most of these leagues overlapping other leagues in the future. In the end only the current set of 6-7 leagues will stay revelant. Back then the icc should have limited the ipl and the bbl to take place once every two or once every 3 years. However hard to see how bcci would agree to that now.

Yes, its takes too long, and is too difficult for other nations to break into Test. T20 is the future of the game.

 

[JaDed]

This will be get very interesting. The UAE has no interest in international cricket and If the big money is put on the table for players, it could be the biggest revolution in cricket since Packer.

Huh how is IPL not that? Lasted more than 10 years as well.

 

[hoshiarpurexpress]

Good pay day for cricketers who don't make it to IPL.

 

[TNAmarkFromIndia]

Football is exactly the model I’m asking cricket to follow, players playing for 4/5 teams a season is getting boring.

There isn't enough quality talent for that like in football. If quality talent isn't available, these T20 leagues wouldn't survive and the players wouldn't get another payday. Whether you like these leagues or not, the players deserve to make money.

 

[TNAmarkFromIndia]

This will be get very interesting. The UAE has no interest in international cricket and If the big money is put on the table for players, it could be the biggest revolution in cricket since Packer.

I don't think there will be sheikhs involved lol. The last time they tried this, IPL franchise owners were involved. I don't think they're going to throw a lot of money into this because it's also about ROI. UAE wouldn't draw big crowds and that would also affect sponsorships.

 

[Babar_Azam_fan]

I think just to draw the fans/ viewership, assuming they’ll start with 7 teams, they’ll have 3 from India, 2 from Pakistan, 1 from UAE and 1 from Bangladesh.

Something like
Delhi xyz
Mumbai xyz
Deccan xyz (to represent South India)
Lahore xyz
Karachi xyz
Bengal xyz
Emirates xyz

 

[NoBallZombie]

This would be interesting. Given that bcci doesn’t allow their cricketers anywhere apart from ipl, and knowing that ecb would have to ignite the indo pak rivalry to kickstart the tournament ... this would be a really optimistic project.

Also the arabs don’t like to be second best at anything , I wonder how they are going to throw more money at players compared to ipl. Survival of the fittest here!

I am not a fan of these tamasha leagues but the financial dynamics of all these are very interesting.

 

[naseem]

Isn't it already. enough of t20....m getting sick off it....

 

[Bewal Express]

Huh how is IPL not that? Lasted more than 10 years as well.

No, because Ind still a big stake in International cricket

 

[TNAmarkFromIndia]

Also the arabs don’t like to be second best at anything , I wonder how they are going to throw more money at players compared to ipl. Survival of the fittest here!

Doubt they'd get any Arabs interested in spending a lot of money on this project.

 

[NoBallZombie]

Doubt they'd get any Arabs interested in spending a lot of money on this project.

The ECB would only want to invest in such a project if they see the returns ... and massive returns! I am thinking the sponsors have been sold the idea of creating an IPL-like product. Doubt that can be done without the BCCI support i.e. getting the indian players involved in the league ... otherwise I dont see how this is going to be different then the other leagues.

 

[TNAmarkFromIndia]

The ECB would only want to invest in such a project if they see the returns ... and massive returns!

They make money they otherwise wouldn't have, and UAE players get to play with top players around the world. A win for the ECB.

otherwise I dont see how this is going to be different then the other leagues.

Who says it has to be? But it's still money in their pocket that they weren't making before. They probably were inspired by the Abu Dhabi T10 league and feel they can make a T20 league work too.

 

[Line and Length]

The comparison to football just doesn’t stick with me. Football clubs are historic entities that have had die hard generations of fans following them for over a hundred years. The league systems in the major European nations have been in place for over a hundred years. The UEFA Champions League started over 60 years ago.
People just don’t have the same attachment to these cricket franchises as they do to football clubs, because they just don’t have the historical pedigree, and because they are “franchises” and not sporting clubs that you can be a member of and a part of.
Sure, maybe 70-80 years down the line we could see people genuinely grow a passion for these cricket franchises and we might see an end to International cricket, barring the two World Cups. But I just don’t think it’ll be nearly as quick as some people are predicting.

 

[cricketAXEpert]

The Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) is planning to replicate the model of the highly successful franchise-based IPL T20 league by starting its own such tournament later this year. Abu Dhabi already hosts an annual T10 league which attracts some of the known names from the world of international cricket.

The league has been sanctioned by ECB chairman Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan with the board exploring the December-January window to kickoff the event. “Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) is pleased to announce that UAE’s own exclusive T20 league has been sanctioned by ECB Chairman His Highness Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan to Dubai Sports City and will soon be held in the UAE. The dates being considered are December 2021 and January 2022,” ECB said in a statement on Tuesday.

It hopes that the franchise based event will attract major international cricketers similar to the other T20 leagues being held around the globe. The modalities of the league are being finalised with Khalid Al Zarooni, ECB Vice Chairman, hoping it will help in the further development cricket in UAE.

“We see this League as another premier addition to our growing tournament calendar. Emirates Cricket, and the UAE, has a proven history of identifying and embracing initiatives that underpin the success of the game, as well as encourage and develop home-grown talent,” Zarooni said in a statement.

“We are delighted with the launch of our own T20 League, one we believe will enhance the growth and popularity of cricket being played in the UAE. We also envisage that UAE-based players will continue to flourish through such opportunities as they continue to make their mark on the international stage,” ECB Board Member Tayeb Kamali, said in a statement.

UAE already boasts the experience of hosting T20 leagues including the IPL last season and Pakistan Super League as well.

https://www.cricketcountry.com/news/coming-soon-an-ipl-style-t20-franchise-league-in-uae-970000

Ok, Too many Leagues are now popping up all over the place.

 

[Hasan123]

No T20 league is matching the IPL because the IPL get the best overseas players.

 

[gazza619]

The UAE league would only become big if BCCI allows its A star players to participate.

 

[DeadBall]

The UAE league would only become big if BCCI allows its A star players to participate.

Maybe it would become a neutral league where both Indian and Pakistani players participate. If it ever happens, it can only happen in the UAE because both teams have supporters there and have been involved with the UAE for a long time now.

 

[observer1]

BCCI is really protective of its "Brand". It nearly broke it's back allowing a retired and shot to bits Yuvraj play in some obscure Canadian tournament.

ICC is in BCCI's pocket as money talks louder than integrity in Cricket.

 

[gazza619]

Maybe it would become a neutral league where both Indian and Pakistani players participate. If it ever happens, it can only happen in the UAE because both teams have supporters there and have been involved with the UAE for a long time now.

That could make it bigger than IPL and i doubt if BCCI would allow that.

 

[MenInG]

JEDDAH: More than 6,800 cricketers are competing in Saudi Arabia’s largest-ever cricket tournament, with matches in 11 cities as part of a national championship.

Players from 369 teams representing 15 local cricket associations are taking part in the 11-week National Cricket Championship 2021, which was launched on Jan. 29 and is due to end in April.

Matches in the T20-format competition will take place every Friday on 106 pitches around 11 cities — Riyadh, Dammam, Jubail, Jeddah, Madinah, Yanbu, Tabuk, Abha, Jazan, Qassim and Najran.

The record-breaking competition has been organized by the Saudi Sports for All Federation (SFA) and the Saudi Arabian Cricket Federation (SACF).

Softball cricket tournaments will also be organized with two stages, the first between February and April, and the second between October and November 2022.

Eleven Saudi cities — Riyadh, Dammam, Jubail, Jeddah, Tabuk, Makkah, Yanbu and Jazan, Farasan Island, Taif and Hail — will host the events, with more than 5,000 players competing.

The events are expected to be popular with a wide range of residents in the Kingdom, especially those from countries where the game is popular, such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal, SFA president, told Arab News: “People see the Asian community’s fantastic passion for cricket; the players are deeply devoted to the sport. This is what we want to see of all nationalities in the Kingdom during this activation.

“Our ideal scenario is that anyone who is curious about cricket will be welcomed into the fold, and these advanced players will impart their experience and love of the game, spreading it further than ever.”

Chairman of the SACF, Prince Saud bin Mishaal, said: “Since Vision 2030 was introduced, Saudi Arabia has made great strides toward achieving a prosperous future for all residents of the country. Organizing such programs for expats, especially those from countries where cricket is so popular, is a major goal of Sport for All within the nation’s Quality of Life Program.”

The SACF recently called players to join training camps in Jeddah, Yanbu, Madinah, Tabuk, Riyadh, Dammam, Al-Leith, Al-Wajh and Al-Qunfudah.

The camps include softball training activities, and will continue until December. A community cricket program also will be held in Jeddah, Riyadh, Dammam and Yanbu from February to April 2022.

More than 22,000 people are expected to take part in initiatives and competitions, supported by the Ministry of Sports and the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee, and organized under the Ministry of Health’s guidelines, aiming to combat coronavirus (COVID-19).

Nadeem Nadwi, the Jeddah-based Indian entrepreneur and SACF general manager, said: “Cricket has been played in Saudi Arabia by the expatriate community of the subcontinent since the 1960s. However, organized cricket started in 1976 with the formation of three major cricket associations in Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam.

“In 2003, the Saudi Cricket Center was established under the patronage of Princess Ghada bint Hamoud bin Abdul Aziz to promote and develop the game at grassroots level and pave the way for a Saudi presence in international cricket.”

Nadwi said that Saudi Arabia is now ranked 28th out of 105 countries in the International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 ranking.

“The response from Saudi youth has been overwhelming, and with cricket now included in the Asian Games, it’s only a matter of time before the game makes its mark among Saudis,” he said.

The Kingdom joined the Asian Cricket Council in 2003 and became an associate member of the ICC.

A national cricket team was formed in the same year.

In 2020, the SACF was established. About 6,800 players from 15 regional cricket associations are registered with SACF.

Abbas Saad Al-Nadwi, a Saudi certified level 2 coach since 2016, told Arab News that there is a basic misconception about cricket in the Kingdom.

“Saudis see only Pakistani and Indian expats playing cricket and think the game belongs to the India-Pakistan subcontinent,” he said.

Al-Nadwi, 34, said that his relatives, particularly his late father, first encouraged him to take up the sport.

“My father was a cricket enthusiast and always wanted me to play. At the age of nine, I began to learn more and more about the game. In 2000, I represented Saudi Arabia in the under 17 Asia Cup in Pakistan — I was 13 and the youngest player in the competition. Three months later, I took part in the Gulf Cup as the captain of the Saudi national under 17 team,” he said.

Al-Nadwi was a member of the national team that competed in the 2009 Asia Cup in Malaysia.

“I also took part in the 2018 World Cup qualifier held in Kuwait. A year later, we won the ACC Western Region T20 held in 2019 in Oman. I was a player and assistant coach as well. In 2020, I coached the Saudi team in the Eastern Asia cricket tournament.”

Al-Nadwi held a three-month summer training course for school students in Yanbu Industrial City, Yanbu.

“The training course was held in cooperation with the education department at the Yanbu’s Royal Commission during summer 2015. Almost 40 students from elementary and intermediate schools took part,” he said.

Al-Nadwi said that the future of cricket in Saudi Arabia is promising, especially with the support the game receives from the Olympic Committee and the SAF.

“The establishment of a federation for the sport reflects the keenness of the sports authorities in Saudi Arabia to attract more young people to the game,” he said.

With more training centers and associations, the game will spread around the Kingdom.

https://www.arabnews.com/node/1811256/sport

 

[MenInG]

RIYADH: Cricket is set to take a giant leap across Saudi Arabia with the game’s ruling body in the Kingdom set to introduce a series of competitions and programs that will encourage the nation’s youth to take up one of the world’s oldest and most popular sports.

For years, even decades, cricket in Saudi Arabia was a game played almost exclusively by expatriate communities from South Asian countries.

But things are set to change rapidly.

Today, the Saudi Arabian Cricket Federation (SACF), established in 2020, has lined up a series of major programs focused on promoting the game among Saudis and expatriates in the Kingdom.

Above all, long term plans have been put in place to ensure that Saudi Arabian national teams can compete with the world’s best in the future.

With Prince Saud Bin Mishal Al Saud as chairman, the federation is now the single body responsible for all matters relating to cricket in the Kingdom. After a year of major disruptions for all sporting activities, cricket is primed for a fresh start.

“Due to COVID19 outbreak last year, we were unlucky,” SACF chairman told Arab News. “We started in August after the situation improved, and since then, we have been very busy with the setting up of many programs, with several deals and MoUs signed with the governmental, semi-governmental and non-governmental entities.”

Those steps are set to be game-changers in raising cricket’s profile among Saudis and expatriates alike.

“We signed a deal with the Sports for All Federation (SFA) to launch 4 programs and we started with the National Cricket Championship,” Prince Saud said. “It is the biggest ever cricket tournament in the history of Saudi Arabia. We have more than 7,000 players and 360 teams taking part in the mega-competition played at over a hundred grounds across 11 cities in the Kingdom.”

The in production of this competition brought competitive cricket action to Riyadh, Dammam, Jubail, Jeddah, Madinah, Yanbu, Tabuk, Abha, Jazan, Qassim and Najran.

In the first match week of the National Cricket Championship, 107 matches took place between 214 teams, while in the second week 85 matches were played between 170 teams. The third week saw 113 matches were played between 226 teams, the fourth and latest match-day week of action, completed on March 26, witnessed a new record of 144 matches contested between 288 teams, and 5,085 players.

Crucially, other community level initiatives have been established.

“We have three other programs,” Prince Saud added. “There will be a corporate cricket tournament launched in October and November, we have a cricket league for expatriate workers, and we have a social cricket program introduced in various cities. Throughout the year, we are planning to have 20,000 participants taking part in these programs in 2021.”

These programs are part of the Kingdom’s mission to promote a healthy and active lifestyle under the Saudi Vision 2030’s Quality of Life program, with the SACF, supported by the Ministry of Sports and Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee, mandated to increase physical activity levels by 40 percent over the next decade.

Prince Saud is keen to attract Saudi youth to cricket through more school activities and community programs.

“One of our biggest plans is to have a proper infrastructure for the game, since we don’t have it today,” Prince Saud said. “We are planning to have cricket academies, more grounds, better facilities with entertainment and other services around them to attract Saudi as well as foreign youth to the game.

“One of our biggest objectives is to bring better quality of life for expatriates working here. We have about eight million people from Asian countries where cricket is the most popular game, places such as India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka,” he added.

The chairman also revealed that the SACF was one of the first federations invited to establish a presence at the new city of NEOM, where cricket facilities are being planned to cater to almost 35,000 people working there.

While cricket has long been played among country’s South Asian communities, with several local competitions established over the last few decades, a higher level of coordination with the federation can be expected now, with Prince Saud revealing that the SACF are planning programs involving embassies and corporations that have significant numbers of employees who take part in domestic cricket matches.

The SACF’s plans, however, go well beyond community level participation. Ultimately, the aim is to produce competitive Saudi Arabian national teams.

“We are currently 28th out of 105 countries in the International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 global rankings, which is good,” said Prince Saud. “We became an ICC member in 2003 and worked our way up to this rank. Now we are signing up with qualified coaches and advisors for us to become an even better team.”

The coronavirus crisis may have halted all sporting activities for a year, but Prince Saud insists that things will change once a sense of normalcy returns.

“Because of the pandemic, schools were closed and running online classes, but as soon as the situation improves and schools reopen, we will have a full program of tournaments between schools all over the Kingdom, as well as international participation,” he said.

The right people will be hired and trusted to take the game forward.

“We are talking to coaches and legends of the game, and we will have them qualify and improve coaches in domestic cricket and help at the national level,” Prince Saud outlined.

The long-term aim is for Saudi Arabian cricket teams to compete professionally at regional and international competitions, as well as to attract some of the world’s finest cricketers to the Kingdom.

“We are planning to have some competitions within the GCC,” said Prince Saud. “Because of pandemic we may have only one or two competitions to play abroad, but once we have established a solid infrastructure in the Kingdom, we will look to host big tournaments and leagues from franchises of other major competitions.”

Such long-term thinking will no doubt play a major part in raising cricket’s popularity among a new demographic in Saudi Arabia, as well as continuing to engage the game’s established audience.

The message from the SACF is clear; cricket is open for business, and everyone is welcome.

https://www.arabnews.com/node/1834521/sport

 

[salahuddin10]

Really want more strong teams in cricket with strong fan bases.Arabs arent ever going to become super powers in football so i would love to see them get more involved in cricket.If the right steps are taken than 10 years down the line cricket might become a mainstream sports there

 

[OMB]

KSA and UAE can bring in much needed $$ in the game. There has to be an expansion of the game in new playing nations. ICC T20 league is not such a bad idea. Maybe make on for associate members, (I don't like this elitist term, either you are a member or you are not).

 

[Babeikh]

Hope the league fails. There are too many already but even if we have a couple more, UAE is a soulless country on the whole. They don't even give citizenship to most people. I think their entire team is made up of people who aren't even citizens which for me should be a requirement.

 

[MenInG]

KARACHI: The owner of one of Pakistan’s most popular cricket franchises, Peshawar Zalmi, hinted last week of taking his team to Saudi Arabia for a friendly match, soon after news emerged that Arab News had been selected as the official media partner of the Saudi team.

Javed Afridi’s successful franchise is represented by cricketing legends like former West Indian skipper Daren Sammy, South African batsman Hashim Amla and others from the world’s biggest test playing teams.

“Best wishes to cricket KSA. How about Peshawar Zalmi VS KSA in Saudi,” Afridi wrote on Twitter.

Speaking to Arab News on Sunday, Afridi said Pakistan had great relations with Saudi Arabia and had always extended its support in every field.

“Pakistan, especially my Peshawar Zalmi, will extend any cooperation required by our Saudi brothers,” Afridi said.

“I wish and hope that Saudi Arabia’s team will soon be among the world’s top international teams, representing the Saudi nation,” Afridi said and added: “If Saudi players benefit from the Pakistani expertise, it will be a matter of pride and honor.”

Afridi’s team has won the title of Pakistan’s hugely popular Pakistan Super League once, and has been a runners up twice since the tournament’s launch in 2016.

Peshawar Zalmi selected Arab News Pakistan as its international media partner in 2020 and extended this partnership to the 2021 edition, which was suspended half way due to the spread of COVID-19.

The remaining matches of the tournament are expected to be played in May this year in Karachi, coronavirus permitting. Peshawar stood second on the points table of the six teams when the tournament
was suspended last month.

ArabNews

 

[MenInG]

RIYADH: Diplomats from countries where cricket enjoys widespread popularity have expressed their delight at the raft of new programs by the Saudi Arabian Cricket Federation’s (SACF) aimed at raising the popularity of the game in the Kingdom, both among locals and members of their own communities.

In an exclusive interview with Arab News last week, Prince Saud Bin Mishal Al-Saud, chairman of the SACF, revealed the game-changing plans for cricket in Saudi Arabia, outlining a series of major initiatives that will increase participation among citizens and expatriates at community, club, and international level.

The federation has also signed several deals and MoUs with governmental, semi-governmental, and non-governmental entities setting out plans to raise awareness of the game, increase cricket facilities nationwide, and introduce the sport to Saudi youth through school programs.

For decades, cricket had already enjoyed a significant level of participation at community level in Saudi Arabia, and diplomats from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the UK, and other figures have backed the new plans to increase engagement and to promote integration between different nationalities.

“It is heartening to see the SACF grow and develop this much in just one year,” Pakistani Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Raja Ali Ejaz told Arab News. “I am personally very happy to see cricket taking root in the society in Saudi Arabia. We Pakistanis are truly sentimental about the game and the onset of cricketing activities in the Kingdom is nothing less than a cherished treat.

“I hope the detailed vision of the SACF chairman materializes triumphantly,” he said, adding: “His layout for the series of tournaments scheduled for 2021 is impressive and a major mood-lifter in an otherwise poignant time of a global pandemic.”

Cricket is set to take a giant leap across Saudi Arabia with the game’s ruling body in the Kingdom set to introduce a series of competitions and programs that will encourage the nation’s youth to take up one of the world’s oldest and most popular sports. Read exclusive interview here.

Among those competitions is the National Cricket Championship, played across 11 cities and part of four programs that SACF signed with the Saudi Sports For All Federation. Launched in February 2021, it is to date the largest cricket tournament held in the history of Saudi Arabia.

Moreover, there will be a corporate cricket tournament launched in October and November, a cricket league for expatriate workers, and a social cricket program introduced in various cities. Throughout the year, SACF is planning to have 20,000 participants taking part in these programs.

“I would also like to take this opportunity to offer Pakistan’s support and collaboration with the SACF for the establishment of proper cricket-related infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, including cricket academies, talent-hunting campaigns, grounds, and coaching facilities,” Ejaz said. “Pakistan is one of the world’s top cricket nations with the love for cricket running deep in its society. It also has a well-formed institutional framework and expertise in these areas and international cricket. The Pakistan Cricket Board and the SACF have a lot to collaborate on, while attracting business and goodwill in both the countries.”

He added: “I wish my brother Prince Saud bin Mishal the very best for his endeavours and look forward to seeing international cricket flourishing in the Kingdom.”

The established initiatives, as well as those in the pipeline, are part of the Kingdom’s mission to promote a healthy and active lifestyle under the Saudi Vision 2030’s Quality of Life program, with the SACF, supported by the Ministry of Sports and Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee, mandated to increase physical activity levels by 40 percent over the next decade.

Arab News, Saudi Arabia’s leading English language daily, has been selected by the Saudi cricket federation to be the national team’s official media partner. Click here for more.

While Prince Saud is keen to attract Saudi youth to cricket through more school activities and community programs, the SACF is also striving to provide a better quality of life for expatriates working in the Kingdom. The federation is also planning programs involving embassies and corporations that have significant numbers of employees who take part in domestic cricket matches.

“As a cricket fan, I am always pleased to see others play the sport,” British Ambassador Neil Crompton said.

“I know that cricket has always had some fans in the region. We also welcome Prince Saud’s emphasis on the government’s commitment to enhancing the quality of life for expatriates.

“Seif Usher, our consul general in Jeddah, is working on a glossary of cricketing phrases in Arabic,” he added.

The Sri Lankan Embassy’s Charge d’ Affairs Madhuka Wickramarachchi told Arab News that while cricket has always enjoyed reverential levels of popularity in his country and among South Asian communities, it was hugely encouraging to see it spread among Saudis and other Arab nationalities.

“We are delighted to see that Saudi Arabia has taken some forward-looking, long-term steps in popularizing cricket among its citizens and expat community as well,” he said. “We believe that the series of cricket matches and competitions organized by the SACF across the Kingdom and its effort to combine the sport with school activities and community programs would encourage more youths to embrace this sport.”

Prince Saud also revealed that leading international players and coaches would be recruited to unearth Saudi talent, a move applauded by Wickramarachchi.

“We congratulate the SACF for taking this initiative and we are delighted to see that world-class cricketers are emerging from the Kingdom,” he added. “It seems that an international cricket encounter between Sri Lanka and Saudi Arabia is possible in the near future.”

Among the established cricketers in the Kingdom who welcomed the changes is Abdul Qadir Khan, a Pakistani who currently plays with the Riyadh Cricket Association and who has represented Saudi Arabia at both junior and senior levels.

“Now that there is government-level patronage to cricket in Saudi Arabia, it will grow by leaps and bounds,” he said. “Cricket has been around for decades. There is also a Saudi national cricket team, but due to the absence of government-level patronage, cricket has remained incognito. I am sure with these programs cricket will grow in Saudi Arabia and more expatriates and Saudis would be drawn towards this sport.”

Aneesur Rehman, an Indian expta who plays in the Riyadh Cricket League and who is also the manager of the Jamia Millia Alumni Association Cricket Club, said: “As a cricketer in Riyadh I am delighted to read about these plans. I am looking forward to my favourite sport taking a big leap in the Kingdom with the SACF keen to introduce a series of programs and domestic leagues.”

https://www.arabnews.com/node/1838696/sport

 

[OMB]

Game on! Saudi national team accepts Pakistan’s Peshawar Zalmi's challenge to cricket friendly

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s national cricket team has accepted the challenge by the Pakistan cricket franchise Peshawar Zalmi inviting them for a friendly game.

The owner of one of Pakistan’s most popular cricket franchises, Peshawar Zalmi, hinted last week of taking his team to Saudi Arabia for a friendly match, soon after news emerged that Arab News had been selected as the official media partner of the Saudi cricket team.

Javed Afridi’s successful franchise is represented by cricketing legends like former West Indian skipper Daren Sammy, South African star batsman Hashim Amla, and Pakistan all rounders Wahab Riaz and Shoaib Malik, and others from the world’s biggest test playing teams.

“Best wishes to cricket KSA. How about Peshawar Zalmi VS KSA in Saudi,” Afridi wrote on Twitter.

Responding to it the Saudi Arabian Cricket Federation (SACF) told Arab News: “We thank Afridi for the wonderful gesture, good wishes to the Saudi national cricket team and appreciation. We look forward to a lot of cooperation with all great cricket playing countries, such as Pakistan.

“As far as invitation to play a friendly game is concerned, we accept the challenge and look forward to playing the game at a mutually agreed date and place, here in Saudi Arabia," said Nadeem Nadwi, General Manager, SACF.

SACF, established in 2020, has lined up a series of major programs focused on promoting the game in the Kingdom and things are set to change rapidly.

In an exclusive interview with Arab News last week, SACF chairman Prince Saud Bin Mishal Al-Saud revealed the game-changing plans for cricket, outlining a series of major initiatives that will increase participation at community, club, and international level.

Among those competitions is the National Cricket Championship, played across 11 cities and part of four programs that SACF signed with the Saudi Sports For All Federation. Launched in February 2021, it is to date the largest cricket tournament held in the history of Saudi Arabia.

Moreover, there will be a corporate cricket tournament launched in October and November, a cricket league for expatriate workers, and a social cricket program introduced in various cities. Throughout the year, SACF is planning to have 20,000 participants taking part in these programs.

The federation has signed several deals and MoUs with governmental, semi-governmental, and non-governmental entities setting out plans to raise awareness of the game, increase cricket facilities nationwide, and introduce the sport to Saudi youth through school programs.

https://www.arabnews.com/node/1840781/sport

 

[OMB]

Peshawar Zalmi excited to be ‘first team from Pakistan’ to play in Saudi Arabia

Players from Peshawar Zalmi cricket team are looking forward to a friendly match against Saudi Arabia on a date to be announced.

KARACHI: Players from the Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise, Peshawar Zalmi, have said they were excited to be “the first team from Pakistan” to play a friendly match in Saudi Arabia.

Earlier this month, franchise owner Javed Afridi wished the Saudi Arabian Cricket Federation (SACF) the best over its media partnership with Arab News, and challenged the Saudi cricket team to play a friendly match against Peshawar Zalmi. SACF accepted the challenge. A date for the match has yet to be announced.

Peshawar Zalmi have won the title of Pakistan’s hugely popular Pakistan Super League once, and been a runner-up twice since the tournament’s launch in 2016. Arab News Pakistan has been an international media partner for Peshawar Zalmi since 2020.

“This will be the first team of Pakistan to go and play in Saudi Arabia,” Kamran Akmal, a wicket-keeper batsman who opens the innings for the team, told Arab News in an interview last week.

“International players will come (to Saudi Arabia) to play cricket. So, they will also get experience ... This is a good sign when players like Wahab Riaz (Peshawar Zalmi captain) and international players like Saqib (English bowler) will go there ... their young players will get good experience.”

“They (Saudi Arabia) will get to know how to improve cricket, how the environment should be, how other teams play, so it’s a good sign for Saudi cricket,” Akmal added.

Speaking to Arab News, Peshawar Zalmi captain Riaz said a friendly match between his team and the Saudi team would be a “great opportunity.”

“It’s really good that a country like Saudi Arabia is taking interest in cricket, because they are well known for football mostly. So, it’s a great challenge for us as well. And it’s going to be a fun game, honestly, to play against the Saudis, so they will get some experience as well,” Riaz added.

He said he hoped Saudi Arabia would develop a good team in the coming years and that Peshawar Zalmi would have some role to play in their development.

“Because in Peshawar Zalmi, you know, a lot of Pakistan and international players are playing. So that will give them (Saudi team) some confidence, that will give them some experience,” Riaz said. “And then I think with the passage of time, they will start working on their skills and they will become better.”

Sending a message to the around 2.6 million Pakistanis who live in Saudi Arabia, Riaz invited them to come and watch Peshawar Zalmi play Saudi Arabia.

“My message to them is that they should come, they should see us, they should support both of us, even Saudi Arabia team,” the team captain said. “They can take that entertainment and excitement which they have been missing from the last few years. The message is they should always come support both the teams and enjoy the game.”

In March, Pakistan suspended the PSL tournament after seven team personnel tested positive for COVID-19. The series is expected to resume in June.

https://www.arabnews.com/node/1846701/sport

 

[TheNightWatchman]

The percentage of people who will be obsessed enough to talk about cricket over the Internet will always remain very, very low.

This is freakish level of passion for the game. Most people do not have that.

An average young cricket fan is way more interested in Limited Overs compared to Test cricket.

They are not going to spend all their day watching a Test match.

This is actually very true. Someone came up to me and asked if I was following the PSL. To which I replied, no i don't watch T20 leagues. She replies "Oh you're one of those old cricket elitists who watch test cricket all day". I didn't reply to that because I realised I was the kid who would wake up at 4 am to watch the Ashes back in the day.
The average everyday cricket fan would pick franchise cricket over proper cricket any day. Franchise cricket is the future whether we like it or not.

 

[MenInG]

RIYADH: Cricket is set to take a giant leap across Saudi Arabia with the game’s ruling body in the Kingdom set to introduce a series of competitions and programs that will encourage the nation’s youth to take up one of the world’s oldest and most popular sports.

For years, even decades, cricket in Saudi Arabia was a game played almost exclusively by expatriate communities from South Asian countries.

But things are set to change rapidly.

Today, the Saudi Arabian Cricket Federation (SACF), established in 2020, has lined up a series of major programs focused on promoting the game among Saudis and expatriates in the Kingdom.

Above all, long term plans have been put in place to ensure that Saudi Arabian national teams can compete with the world’s best in the future.

With Prince Saud Bin Mishal Al Saud as chairman, the federation is now the single body responsible for all matters relating to cricket in the Kingdom. After a year of major disruptions for all sporting activities, cricket is primed for a fresh start.


“Due to COVID19 outbreak last year, we were unlucky,” SACF chairman told Arab News. “We started in August after the situation improved, and since then, we have been very busy with the setting up of many programs, with several deals and MoUs signed with the governmental, semi-governmental and non-governmental entities.”

Those steps are set to be game-changers in raising cricket’s profile among Saudis and expatriates alike.

“We signed a deal with the Sports for All Federation (SFA) to launch 4 programs and we started with the National Cricket Championship,” Prince Saud said. “It is the biggest ever cricket tournament in the history of Saudi Arabia. We have more than 7,000 players and 360 teams taking part in the mega-competition played at over a hundred grounds across 11 cities in the Kingdom.”

The in production of this competition brought competitive cricket action to Riyadh, Dammam, Jubail, Jeddah, Madinah, Yanbu, Tabuk, Abha, Jazan, Qassim and Najran.

In the first match week of the National Cricket Championship, 107 matches took place between 214 teams, while in the second week 85 matches were played between 170 teams. The third week saw 113 matches were played between 226 teams, the fourth and latest match-day week of action, completed on March 26, witnessed a new record of 144 matches contested between 288 teams, and 5,085 players.

Crucially, other community level initiatives have been established.

“We have three other programs,” Prince Saud added. “There will be a corporate cricket tournament launched in October and November, we have a cricket league for expatriate workers, and we have a social cricket program introduced in various cities. Throughout the year, we are planning to have 20,000 participants taking part in these programs in 2021.”

These programs are part of the Kingdom’s mission to promote a healthy and active lifestyle under the Saudi Vision 2030’s Quality of Life program, with the SACF, supported by the Ministry of Sports and Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee, mandated to increase physical activity levels by 40 percent over the next decade.

Prince Saud is keen to attract Saudi youth to cricket through more school activities and community programs.

“One of our biggest plans is to have a proper infrastructure for the game, since we don’t have it today,” Prince Saud said. “We are planning to have cricket academies, more grounds, better facilities with entertainment and other services around them to attract Saudi as well as foreign youth to the game.

“One of our biggest objectives is to bring better quality of life for expatriates working here. We have about eight million people from Asian countries where cricket is the most popular game, places such as India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka,” he added.

Prince Saud said the SACF programs are part of the Kingdom’s mission to promote a healthy and active lifestyle under the Saudi Vision 2030’s Quality of Life program. (AN Photo)
The chairman also revealed that the SACF was one of the first federations invited to establish a presence at the new city of NEOM, where cricket facilities are being planned to cater to almost 35,000 people working there.

While cricket has long been played among country’s South Asian communities, with several local competitions established over the last few decades, a higher level of coordination with the federation can be expected now, with Prince Saud revealing that the SACF are planning programs involving embassies and corporations that have significant numbers of employees who take part in domestic cricket matches.

The SACF’s plans, however, go well beyond community level participation. Ultimately, the aim is to produce competitive Saudi Arabian national teams.

“We are currently 28th out of 105 countries in the International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 global rankings, which is good,” said Prince Saud. “We became an ICC member in 2003 and worked our way up to this rank. Now we are signing up with qualified coaches and advisors for us to become an even better team.”

The coronavirus crisis may have halted all sporting activities for a year, but Prince Saud insists that things will change once a sense of normalcy returns.

“Because of the pandemic, schools were closed and running online classes, but as soon as the situation improves and schools reopen, we will have a full program of tournaments between schools all over the Kingdom, as well as international participation,” he said.

The right people will be hired and trusted to take the game forward.

“We are talking to coaches and legends of the game, and we will have them qualify and improve coaches in domestic cricket and help at the national level,” Prince Saud outlined.

The long-term aim is for Saudi Arabian cricket teams to compete professionally at regional and international competitions, as well as to attract some of the world’s finest cricketers to the Kingdom.

“We are planning to have some competitions within the GCC,” said Prince Saud. “Because of pandemic we may have only one or two competitions to play abroad, but once we have established a solid infrastructure in the Kingdom, we will look to host big tournaments and leagues from franchises of other major competitions.”

Such long-term thinking will no doubt play a major part in raising cricket’s popularity among a new demographic in Saudi Arabia, as well as continuing to engage the game’s established audience.

The message from the SACF is clear; cricket is open for business, and everyone is welcome.

https://www.arabnews.com/node/1834521/sport

 

[SangasCoverDrive]

Hosting World Cup in a village ground

JAMES COYNE: Oman have risen from having no grass cricket grounds 10 years ago to co-hosting the T20 World Cup – though they still have much to do by October 17

Two thirds of the way through our WhatsApp call the reception drops out, and Pankaj Khimji calls me back through the old-fashioned means of a normal mobile phone call.

“Sorry about that,” he chuckles. “I had to drive over a 1,000-foot mountain pass.”

For anyone expecting another featureless desert landscape and empty stands when pictures from Oman flash onto TV screens during the early matches of the T20 World Cup, they may be pleasantly diverted by the backdrop of the Al Hajar Mountains behind the Al Amerat Cricket Ground. This kind of thing matters in cricket, especially during a pandemic, when the only audiences will be remote.

Besides, there are no stands at all at what Khimji, the chairman of Oman Cricket, calls “the best village cricket ground you’ve ever seen”.

“It’s not your typical desertscape,” Khimji reassures The Cricketer. “It’s a beautiful landscape behind, with a vista of the mountains. We’re in a basin with mountains all around us. I just hope the TV cameras will do justice to it all.

“It’s most important of all that Oman is shown in a good light, not just Oman Cricket.”

That sentiment betrays the unavoidable reality behind the meteoric rise of Omani cricket over the last decade.

***

The Sultanate of Oman is an absolute monarchy nestled between the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, with the sultan as head of state. No major project would have been possible without the direct intervention of the government: it was the Ministry of Sports which donated the land where the impressive Al Amerat complex now stands.

The sultan, Haithim bin Tariq, is a cricket fan, and was present with Khimji in the royal box for the 2019 World Cup final at Lord’s.

It just so happened that his predecessor as sultan, his cousin Qaboos bin Said, died in January 2020, just as Oman was hosting a Cricket World Cup League 2 qualifying event; the last matches had to be cancelled as the Sultanate went into mourning at the end of Qaboos's 50-year rule, during which the country had underdone staggering levels of development.

As for Khimji, he is director of Khimji Ramdas, a sixth-generation family business which has operated as a major wholesalers in Muscat since 1870.


Oman are due to host part of the upcoming T20 World Cup

His late father, Kanak, who died in February, was known as the world’s only Hindu sheikh, after being conferred with the title by the sultan. He was awarded with a Lifetime Service award by the ICC in 2011.

The progress that father and son have been able to help bring about in cricket has been stark in its own right.

In the 1950s and ’60s there were a handful of cricket matches a year in Oman, then a de facto British colony usually described as “medieval” in the Western press. Such matches on gravel fields and matting wickets were perhaps dependent on the personal enthusiasm of members of the Anglophile royal family, the Indian trading community, Royal Navy visits or the Brits out there assisting the regime – somewhat shadily in the case of the 13-year Dhofar Rebellion (the full UK government papers on the matter are being released only this year).

Since Qaboos deposed his wayward father in 1970, the country has grown up fast, and immigrants from the Indian subcontinent have flocked to the Sultanate for work; one of the unintended consequences has been a cricketing explosion.

Such was the expat player pool that in 2005 Oman managed to reach a World Cup Qualifier for the first time – despite the country not possessing one grass pitch or ground.

The Azhar Ali story

To install one was always going to require significant investment and upkeep: in 2007, a study by the Associate cricket aficionado (and soil expert) Roy Morgan ranked Muscat the driest cricketing centre in the world.

When MCC toured in 2010, the likes of Keith Dutch and Will Gidman played on an artificial wicket inside a running track on the multi-sport Royal Oman Police Ground.

“I remember it well,” says Khimji. “It was one of MCC’s very first pink-ball games, funnily enough. The ground was less an oval and more a loop.”

It took four years and 2 million Oman rials (US$5.2m), but Khimji led the project to construct two handsome turf grounds and an indoor school at the Al Amerat complex 25km out of downtown Muscat by 2013.

Suddenly, Associate tournaments – which for years had tended to gravitate to the likes of the UAE and Malaysia – began to be awarded to Oman. Their infrastructure has raised Oman from a scruffy cricketing outpost to the stage where Khimji can now declare “we’ve now become the No.4 venue in the region, after Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah”.

***

When it became clear the T20 World Cup might have to be moved from India to the UAE due to fears of a third wave of Covid-19, Khimji wrote to the BCCI asking them to consider Al Amerat as a possible extra venue nearby. When the inevitable venue change was made, his plea was answered.

Cynics will complain about the allocation of fixtures, which have yet to be finalised, and will surely give Oman some kind of home advantage.

It seems certain that Muscat’s involvement will be restricted to the preliminary stage, involving the eight teams – Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Ireland, Namibia, Scotland and Oman themselves – who did not qualify automatically to the Super 12s through the T20I rankings. Oman, like other Associate sides, have been sat around twiddling their thumbs since the pandemic started.

One of Oman’s functions in all this appears to be to allow the three stadiums and squares in the UAE time to recover from the stresses of cramming in 31 IPL games in 27 days before the T20 World Cup really gets going.

Oman qualified for the T20 World Cup by beating Hong Kong in a playoff (copyright: ICC Business Corporation FZ LLC 2018)

“Realistically we’re looking at the preliminary rounds,” acknowledges Khimji. “We’re expecting the ICC and BCCI officials to arrive this weekend, and they will inspect the venues, and go through the details and once we’ve all sat down we’ll know if we have six games, or eight, or 12, or whatever it is.”

It may be jarring for global audiences to watch World Cup matches at a ground without grandstands, but Khimji says the venue will want for nothing come October 17.

In March, Muscat came very close to hosting its first Test matches, between Afghanistan and Zimbabwe. In the end they decided to play two Tests in the more familiar surroundings of Abu Dhabi.

Khimji says: “We secured Test accreditation at short notice, and we would have been a Test-hosting country. But we never expected the World Cup. Sometimes the stars and constellations are aligned for you.”

They may need to be, as Khimji will know how important a World Cup is to the Associate game. Aside from the UAE, not many Associate Members get the opportunity to host World Cup matches. And yet it is the revenues generated from ICC major tournament broadcasting rights that provides the funds for the ICC to divvy out to the scores of Associates.

Graeme van Buuren: Lost in limbo

There is still a dizzying amount of work to do over the next 15 weeks to ensure Al Amerat conforms to global televised standards.

“We’re purely cricket-focused,” Khimji says. “We don’t have grandstands or corporate boxes. But we’re as beautiful and as kitted out as the best village ground you’ve ever seen.

“There’s a bio-bubble we’ll somehow have to conform with. And if we have two back-to-back games on the same ground with a half an hour or hour changeover, we’ll have to have another set of dressing rooms built – which is fine – as we have to sanitise them and the teams from the first game won’t have vacated yet.

“We’ll have to install an LED screen for all the DRS technology which players and audiences are accustomed to now. We’ll have to put up some TV towers.

“And lights… we didn’t realise we’d be hosting a World Cup in 2021. So our floodlights are not currently up to World Cup standard. We’ll have to install new technology meeting the four HD requirements.

“The deadline is complicated by the fact we are also hosting a World Cup League 2 qualifying event in September. So we’ll have to make sure everyone is vacated by September 15 to install everything. We’re currently heading the table in that competition and want to maintain that advantage in trying to qualify for the 2023 World Cup.

“But we’ll meet the deadline.”

Oman in action against Kenya at their Al Amerat ground outside Muscat (copyright: ICC Business Corporation FZ LLC 2018)

The actual task of bringing up to eight teams, ICC staffers and media into Oman during a pandemic does not faze Khimji.

He has spoken before of how the Sultanate approved visas for 30 Afghans or Zimbabweans within 72 or 36 hours – quite something when Oman has not been issuing visas for citizens of those nations for years. When he has asked the state for a shipment of buses to transport players around, they arrived promptly.

“We don’t have to battle red tape,” says Khimji. “We had the pre-Olympic sailing qualifiers here in the midst of the pandemic and that went off just fine.

“By the end of August Oman is on track for two-thirds of the population to have had the first jab, and one third to have had their second shot. By September that will go up to 50 per cent.

“By the time all the teams arrive hopefully we’ll be in a similar position as Wembley was for England v Germany!”

***

As for the national team, such exposure is relatively new for them too: Oman did not play a televised match until the qualifier for the 2016 T20 World Cup, where four wins secured their spot in India. In their first match, they pulled off the shock of the preliminary round by beating Ireland.

It was clearly an expat operation, with just one player, the fast bowler Sufyan Mehmood, actually born in Oman, though with plenty of usefully unorthodox and unshackled players like the powerful Zeeshan Maqsood and slingy Munis Ansari.

But there is encouragement from the fact that 35 schools in the country now take part in floodlit T20 competitions.

Khimji is steadfast when it comes to maintaining the amateur ethos in Oman Cricket. In the manner of Pakistan cricket, most of Oman’s 60 senior domestic teams are sponsored by corporate houses, and not a single player – even the international players – is on a national contract.

Almost all cricketers in the country are in full-time day jobs and provided with only a modest stipend by the board, to cover daily meals; just a handful of the leading players are sponsored sufficiently by companies to be able to skip work.

At a time when world cricket celebrates the issuing of central contracts to Brazil’s female players, Oman’s structure may seem antediluvian. But Khimji says it is their way of retaining a cricket system free of corruption and self-interest.

“We have an amateur structure and make no mistake: we will maintain that. The players are amateur, the board are amateur – we do not have any financial privileges. If you are involved in Oman Cricket you do it for the right reasons. And we always come out as the underdogs that way.”

Oman's national side taking on Uganda at Al Amerat (copyright: ICC Business Corporation FZ LLC 2018)

He told the Emerging Cricket podcast earlier this year: “We pride ourselves on being a professionally amateur cricketing nation, where the commercial lure of being a national cricketer hasn’t quite bitten yet. So long as we stay amateur, I think we’ll stay sane.

“We debate this all the time. I think our mandate is to maintain our current level – to stay within the top 17 in ODIs and the top 20 in T20Is. After that, I think we’ll know where we’re going and what’s lacking. I see a very strong USA and Nepal coming up, and one or two surprises out of Africa, and will we be able to stand the onslaught and the professionalism that may come in?”

Khimji has more influence than ever, having been nominated as vice-president of the Asian Cricket Council. He also stood late last year as an Associate representative for the ICC Chief Executives’ Committee, but lost out by one vote.

His ACC role has given him the ear of Jay Shah, probably the most powerful man in cricket by dint of his roles as BCCI secretary and ACC president, not to mention being the son of India’s home affairs minister.

Khimji knows the greats of India’s 1983 World Cup squad from the early days of one-day exhibition matches in Sharjah, when he and his father (both educated in India) would make the long drive from Muscat and even be allowed to enter the dressing rooms. It certainly does no harm to know the likes of Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri today.

Khimji says: “When I talk to Jay Shah we talk as colleagues now. So we can talk about revitalising the ACC and I don’t need to break the ice anymore. I converse with him regularly about ACC business and clearly we will be over the T20 World Cup too.”

***

In keeping Oman’s players and officials grounded, Khimji says he is indebted to his long-time development manager and national coach, Duleep Mendis, who was one of Sri Lanka’s first outstanding Test batsmen and famously got stuck into Ian Botham and co on their Test debut at Lord’s in 1984. He has relocated to Oman for the job.

“He is my henchman,” jokes Khimji. “What would I do without the man? I have no words to express how grateful I am.

“He’s old school. He promotes a very clean, unadulterated atmosphere. Cricket’s all about that – for me it’s a gentlemanly and gentlewomanly sport.

“The moment you have too many issues pulling or pushing things in a certain direction you lose that enjoyability. Hopefully I won’t suddenly become arrogant through hosting a World Cup.”

 

[Abdullah Rabbani]

Qatar have decent stadium

 

[hoshiarpurexpress]

Saudi Arabia to be next cricket force ?

Was watching Game on Hai and Rashid Latif made this surprising revelation.
Basically as per him Saudi Government is investing directly in the sport and have hired Kabir Khan as well.
As per Rashid Latif we may as well see some PSL Teams/Matches play cricket there.

 

[Bilal Ahmad15]

Well, I haven't seen or heard anything about Saudi Arabia cricket, but Oman looks decent also. They have a really good crowd and atmosphere, looking at these t20 WC matches, and they do have a few players who are either born in Oman or lived in Oman from a young age. They nearly beat Bangladesh too.

 

[offstump]

It would be good for the game of cricket if some of these associate sides, with money can develop their teams to the point where there’s atleast a bit more competition in limited overs cricket.

 

[TNAmarkFromIndia]

All these teams are made up of South Asians. And the South Asians in those countries don't support the national teams of those countries, rather they support the country of their origin. And locals couldn't care less about cricket as they're obsessed with football and cricket is flooded with South Asians. Such a futile exercise.

 

[MenInG]

Leading US based investment firm 27th Investments have formally launched the 27th Sports, a sports specific fund in excess of 100 million US dollars. Indian origin investment professional, Anil Damani is the CEO and President of the Atlanta-based investment firm. 27th Investments have active portfolio worth a billion US dollars under various sectors such as gaming, real estate and start-up ventures.

The 27th Sports office will be based in UAE and will focus specifically in emerging markets and sports such as cricket, golf, beach sports, e-sports among others. A seasoned sports management professional will lead the venture. The fund has identified its first investment and an array of announcements are expected soon.

Confirming the same, Mr Anil Damani, said, "Our strategy will be to own and invest into long term commercial rights of various sporting federations as well as invest into sports startups. We at 27th are really excited to be embarking on this new journey."

 

[MenInG]

ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistan cricket captain Wasim Akram has said he is “looking forward” to launching a cricket league in Saudi Arabia following his trip to Riyadh this week.

The Pakistani pacer issued the statement after meeting Saudi Arabian Cricket Federation Chairman Prince Saud bin Mishal to discuss the future of the sport in the Kingdom.

Akram’s visit follows a recent strengthening of cricket ties between the two countries.

Last month, Javed Afridi, who owns Pakistan Super League franchise Peshawar Zalmi, announced that his team will play exhibition matches in Saudi Arabia.

Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Najam Sethi also said last month that the South Asian country is willing to share its expertise in the sport with the Kingdom, where cricket’s popularity is growing rapidly.

“What a trip to Riyadh,” Akram wrote in a Facebook post this week. “Had a great meeting with H.H. Saud (bin) Mishal, talked about cricket in Saudi Arabia, and so looking forward to (starting) a Saudi league insha Allah very soon.”

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have strong economic, defense and cultural ties.

Last month, Pakistan women’s football team were runners-up in a four-nation tournament in the Kingdom.

Since its establishment in 2020, the Saudi Arabian Cricket Federation has launched a series of major initiatives, including a national championship, a corporate tournament, a league for expatriate workers, and social programs in several cities.

The ruling body oversees 15 official associations representing the sport in nine regions, and has announced plans to set up additional associations in the remaining regions to ensure cricket is played across the Kingdom.

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2244751/sport

 

[MenInG]

Wasim Akram, former Pakistan captain and a legendary pacer, has said that Saudi Arabia could form its proper cricket team as the Kingdom regularly hosted tournaments, adding he wishes to see the game “evolve” in the Gulf nation.

Akram made his first-ever trip to the Saudi capital of Riyadh in February this year where he held a meeting with the chairman of the Saudi Arabia Cricket Federation (SACF), Prince Saud bin Mishal, to discuss the future of the sport in the Kingdom.

Akram spoke about the emerging cricket talent in Saudi Arabia, saying though he did not get a chance to witness Saudi cricketers, he would like to visit the Kingdom again. “I would love to go and see the talent, and I am sure, they can form a proper cricket team, where they can actually beat the associate countries,” the former pacer said. “But for that, they have got to have domestic regular leagues, and that too, like I said earlier, on turf pitches. That’s very important for Saudi cricket to evolve.”

Growing in popularity

Akram’s visit followed the recent strengthening of cricket ties between the two countries. In January, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Najam Sethi, said his country was prepared to share its expertise in the sport with Saudi Arabia where cricket is increasingly growing in popularity. The same month, Javed Afridi, who owns the Pakistan Super League franchise Peshawar Zalmi, announced that his team was going to play exhibition matches in the Kingdom. “I met with the chairman of the Saudi Arabia Cricket Federation, who is a very keen and avid fan of cricket,” Akram said. “And of course, there are a lot of expats: Pakistanis, Australians, Indians, Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans. They all are there, and they love one sport, that’s cricket. The [Kingdom] has about 16 districts, and they do put up regular tournaments, [but] I think what they need is a proper cricket ground and turfs, that’s where Saudi cricket will evolve.”

Since its establishment in 2020, the SACF has launched a series of major initiatives, including a national cricket championship, a corporate cricket tournament, a league for expatriate workers, and social programs in several cities. It oversees 15 official associations representing the sport in nine regions and has announced plans to set up additional associations in the remaining regions to ensure that cricket activities are held across the Kingdom.

https://gulfnews.com/sport/cricket/...see-cricket-evolve-in-saudi-arabia-1.94581581

 

[MenInG]

According to media reports:

Nadeem Omar is going to join hands with Saudi Arabia for promoting and organizing cricket in the kingdom

Sources said that Nadeem had been invited by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for a meeting, during which a deal in regard with Saudi Arabia's national cricket will be signed.

Sources said the agreement would be signed between Quetta Gladiators and the Saudi government tomorrow (June 16)