Four teams battle in Emirates Airlines Twenty20 from today

Dubai: The newly constructed Emirates airlines cricket ground at the Sevens will host its first international tournament from today. Four teams will battle for glory in the two-day Emirates Airlines Twenty20.

English county teams Surrey and Sussex, South Africa's Cape Cobras and hosts Fly Emirates, studded with top Test stars from England and Pakistan, will be in action. The star attraction of the tournament is Pakistan allrounder Shahid Afridi, who will be playing for Fly Emirates

Announcing the tournament, Maurice Flanagan, executive vice-chairman of Emirates Airline and Group, said: "To have a guest player as talented as Shahid Afridi line up alongside our very own Fly Emirates XI will be a tremendous boost to the confidence of our players and a marvellous learning experience for them."

Flanagan, who is a keen follower of cricket and has played a pivotal role in promoting world cricket through Emirates airlines sponsorship, added: "To get to play against professionals is a major step up in class for a team of amateurs from our 48,000 strong workforce. Our team emerged successful against the strong Lord's Taverners team recently and I have no doubt they will give a good account of themselves in this tournament."

Another star attraction of the tournament is England's left-arm spinner Monty Panesar, who is representing Sussex. The Cape Cobras are a development team but have Test star Omar Henry as their manager.

Teams

Fly Emirates: Nigel Fernandez (Capt), Rehan Adil, Shahid Afridi, Rizwan Ahmad, Arshad Ali, Lalith Dhayanake, Mohammad Iqbal, Amjad Javed, Shaikh Javed, Ivan John, Khurram Khan, Kashif Khan, Shoeb Muljiani, Shafeer Reyal, Mohammad Shareef, Gaurav Sharma, Vikram Sharma, Yasin Sikander.

Surrey: Rory Hamilton-Brown (Capt), Usman Afzaal, Laurie Evans, Chris Jordan, Tim Linley, Gareth Batty, Simon King, Jade Dernbach, Stuart Meaker, Gary Wilson, Michael Brown, Arun Harinath, Stewart Walters, Matthew Spriegel, Chris Schofield and Chris Tremlett.

Sussex: Mike Yardy (Capt) Ragheb Aga, James Anyon, Will Beer, Ben Brown, Michael Chadwick, Joe Gatting, Andrew Hodd, Chad Keegan, James Kirtley, Chris Liddle, Matthew Machan, Robin Martin-Jenkins, Chris Nash, Monty Panesar, Ollie Rayner, Michael Thornely and Luke Wells.

Cape Cobras: Omphile Ramela (Capt), Uwe Karl Birkenstock, Johannes Bothma, Derek Brand, Christopher Cooke, Beuran Hendricks, Dane Paterson, Dane Piedt, Romano Ramoo, Siyabulela Simetu, Mohammad Vallie, Lenert van Wyk, Kirk Wernars.