DUBAI // While the monied stars at the top of international cricket are scouring their fixture lists for their next day off at present, the next tier down will be granted a rare opportunity for match action when the Desert T20 starts in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
Whether it be a tune up ahead of the start of pre-season, as it is for the European sides, or an early chance to right some of the wrongs of 2016, as for the UAE, these matches are an unexpected boon in what was a fallow point in the playing schedule.
“It is something new,” Amjad Javed, the UAE captain, said. “We usually play against these teams when it is a qualifier for something, and you have to win.
“A tournament like this isn’t a qualifier, but there is a trophy to win. Hopefully they can introduce a 50-over tournament like this, too. That would really help us.”
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Mini World Cup
With the shrinking of the 50 over World Cup, and few other chances for advancement besides, the teams beyond the Test sphere need to take their opportunities to play where they can find them.
The Desert T20 is an idea hatched between Will Kitchen, the ICC Academy general manager and performance manager for UAE cricket, and the ICC’s development department.
Clearly, there is a great appetite for it. At relatively short notice, eight leading Associate teams agreed to play.
Even the leading Test nations have taken notice. As many as six have signalled they would be keen to send A-teams to play in future versions of the tournament.
“It is a great thing to have, especially if we can have events like this continuously,” said Zayed Abbas, an Emirates Cricket Board member. “It is important for us to play a lot of T20 and one-day matches.”
No telecast
Although it is the plan for any future versions of it to at least be livestreamed, this first Desert T20 will not be televised.
Amjad says a lack of live footage of him and his teammates is the reason the national team’s celebrity profile is not much more than nil.
“I was born in the UAE and since childhood, all I have seen on TV here is football games,” the captain said.
“If they could start telecasting at least one game of cricket per week, that will give the normal public interest in the game.
“When I go to the grocery store, people are interested to know I’m a cricketer, and say they have read about me in the papers.
“If they have the chance to watch us play [on TV] maybe then they would want to come and support us at the ground.”
Home advantage
When the UAE played Afghanistan in Dubai last month, thousands came to watch. All, exclusively, supporting the away side, though.
Given the Afghans, who are drawn in the same group as the host nation, are the best supported side here of the eight playing in the Desert T20, the idea the UAE will have much of a home advantage is moot.
Ambivalence from the stands, though, is offset by the fact the national team do, of course, know the prevailing conditions better than anyone else.
“We have a lot of talent in the team,” Owais Shah, the interim UAE coach, said. “We have been working on different aspects of the game, and we are all geared up for the tournament.
“Being held in the UAE, we are obviously used to the conditions, and hopefully we can come out on top.”
pradley@thenational.ae
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