Abu Dhabi: The Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) has unveiled a much-awaited domestic cricket policy which looks likely to change the way the game is being governed and played in the UAE.
ECB CEO Dilawar Mani announced the new policy, which takes immediate effect and starts with the registration of players, teams, clubs, academies, coaches and umpires.
It deals with almost every aspect of the way the game is played in the UAE, and includes women's cricket.
"In the past everyone has done their own thing and this has been going on everywhere in the UAE. We needed to regulate the game and focus on development and governance. We started the process in June and with the commitment of all those connected with cricket in the regional councils, this new policy has been unveiled under the umbrella of the ECB," said Mani.
Club cricket in the four regional councils of Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Dubai and Ajman will be played at a two-tier level — 10 teams in the A division and the rest in the B Division with the seasonal promotion and demotion of two teams.
The ECB has also decided that the councils will have to stage a minimum of one under-12, one under-14 or under-15, one under-16 or under-17 and one under-19 tournament per season.
"In order to bring about some uniformity in the way the tournaments are played and to put into perspective the individual performances, we have drawn out the conditions for A and B division tournaments," Mani said.
A Division
According to the new policy, all councils must have 10 teams in the A Division and each council will have to host a minimum of three tournaments comprising 50, 40 and 20 overs formats for this division which will be played on turf grounds.
Further, A Division teams from each council (eight in total) will be joined by two under-19 teams to make up a Premier League.
B Division
B Division tournaments will comprise 20 and 25-over-a-side tournaments and each council will determine the number of tournaments based on their available facilities.
Mani also said that playing facilities will be based on a multi-centre concept and any council may request the facilities of other councils, depending on availability.
Mani insisted that the ECB will ensure that all councils operate as non-profit organisations and all revenue earned will be ploughed back into the development of players, facilities and events.
Strict registration
A strict registration system for players, clubs, umpires, academies, indoor cricket centres, an ECB website to carry all data, which helps the regional councils, creation of a pool of umpires and training them, as well as the development of women's cricket at the council level are also part of the new domestic cricket policy. Mani said that for the sake of clarity, jurisdiction has been defined as follows:
Abu Dhabi Cricket Council — Abu Dhabi and Al Ain; Sharjah Cricket Council — Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah; Dubai Cricket Council — Dubai; and Ajman Cricket Council — Ajman and Umm Al Quwain.
