Aaqib Javed, the UAE coach, said Test cricket is still a distant dream for the national team as they begin their Intercontinental Cup campaign against Ireland today.
For the first time, the winners of the competition - which is four-day, first-class cricket for the tier of nations below the Test elite - will be guaranteed Test matches in 2018.
A four-Test series will be played between the Intercontinental Cup champions and the lowest ranked country in the ICC Test rankings in 2018.
If the Intercontinental Cup winner wins the series, it will become the 11th Test nation until 2022, when the next ICC Test Challenge is held.
While Aaqib is confident his side would be equipped to deal with that series, he thinks full-time membership of the Test sphere is realistically still years off for UAE cricket.“Playing a one-off Test would not be difficult, but becoming a Test nation, that is still far away,” Aaqib said. “Progress is so slow from ICC. Ireland have done so much over the years.
“I am working with an associate team, but I still feel this game has to grow. It should be the aim of making one Test nation in eight to 10 years. There must be something for people to achieve.”
At the Cricket World Cup this year, where the UAE appeared for the first time since 1996, Aaqib was critical of the ICC’s decision to reduce the tournament to 10 teams from 14.
He said emerging nations, such as UAE and Ireland, have to be given tangible incentives if the sport is going to develop.
Aaqib said Ireland, the four-time Intercontinental Cup winners and defending champions, have proved they are ready for Test cricket.
“If they [the ICC] are blocking everything, it will be really hard for the smaller nations to push hard [to improve],” Aaqib said.
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“The way they have elevated Ireland and Afghanistan is a good sign. Gradually they are encouraging teams to win a competition and have a Test match.
“Once you have played a Test, you will be there in the list of Test-playing countries.
“This is a way of getting into it. If you do well in that Test match, then what?”
This week’s encounter in Malahide is the first time the UAE and Ireland have been met since they played out one of the most thrilling matches at the World Cup in Australia.
Ireland won that night in Brisbane, and Aaqib acknowledged a tough assignment faces his players against a side who have dominated this level of cricket.
Ireland have a new coach in John Bracewell, the former New Zealand coach, who has taken over after Phil Simmons left to fulfil a similar role with his native West Indies.
The playing careers of today’s opposing coaches briefly overlapped. In a one-day international in Sharjah in 1990, Aaqib held the catch that ended Bracewell’s last limited-overs innings for New Zealand.
In his new role, Bracewell is optimistic about the chance of building towards a future in Test cricket.
“It’s a hugely important game for us as we take the first step on our ambition to become a Test playing nation,” Bracewell told Cricket Ireland’s website. “That opportunity was one of the primary reasons I took on the job of Ireland head coach.
“It’s incredibly exciting for the team and the country as we look to write new chapters in our cricketing history.”
Intercontinental Cup
The competition is four-day, first-class cricket for the tier of eight countries immediately below the 10 full member nations. The winners of the 2015-2017 tournament will play a “Test challenge” against the lowest ranked Test nation in 2018. “It will be fantastic to see the strongest associates face off in an exciting competition, with great context, that will showcase world cricket’s growing pool of talent,” David Richardson, the ICC chief executive, said.
Teams
Ireland, Afghanistanm Scotland, UAE, Hong Kong, Papua New Guinea, the Netherlands, Namibia
Previous winners
2004 - Scotland
2005 - Ireland
2007 - Ireland
2008 - Ireland
2010 - Afghanistan
2013 - Ireland
Fixture
Ireland v UAE, Malahide, today until Friday.
Squads
Ireland: William Porterfield (captain), John Anderson, Andrew Balbirnie, George Dockrell, Ed Joyce, John Mooney, Tim Murtagh, Andrew McBrine, Kevin O'Brien, Niall O'Brien, Paul Stirling, Stuart Thompson, Gary Wilson, Craig Young.
UAE: Mohammed Tauqir (captain), Fayyaz Ahmed, Amjad Ali, Saqib Ali, Shaiman Anwar, Manjula Guruge, Asif Iqbal, Amjad Javed, Khurram Khan, Mohammed Naveed, Swapnil Patil, Ahmed Raza, Chirag Suri, Mohammed Shahzad.
pradley@thenational.ae
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