Dubai: A handful of promising youngsters of the two leading teams in the UAE’s domestic cricket circuit got to bowl at Australian batsmen and also play alongside them at the International Cricket Council (ICC) Academy.
The Phoenix Medicines and Multiplex teams boast a number of talented players and the youngsters were delighted with the opportunity to not only be close to international stars but also test their skills against them.
Irfan Ansari, the youngsters’ coach, was also present to encourage them to bowl at their best against the visitors. “The Australian team wanted five pacers and five spinners to bowl against them at the nets and I made them readily available,” he said.
The players also took part in a fielding session alongside the Australian players at the Oval ground as Australian team coach Darren Lehmann made his batsmen practice in the middle. As two Australian bowlers bowled simultaneously, fully padded batsmen were asked to score runs against the attack.
In the light of the upcoming Twenty20 match, some of the Australian batsmen hit aggressive shots that tested the fielding skills of the young players.
Balwinder Singh Sandhu, who is a medium pacer and Sapandeep, an off spinner, had played state level cricket in India. Left-arm spinner Mohammad Azhar had represented Pakistan’s Sialkot region and played first class cricket with Pakistan International Airlines.
“One can always improve by watching top cricketers in action and this opportunity to bowl alongside Australian cricketers will boost the confidence of these youngsters who have all been performing very well in domestic matches here,” said Ansari, who was manager of the UAE Under-19 team during the Asia Cup and World Cup earlier this year.
