Al Ain In a bid to promote cricket among youth in the UAE, particularly Al Ain, the Al Ain Cricket Association is starting a twenty20 tournament this Thursday.
“This is the first time we are organising a tournament on a grass ground. The wicket will be cemented and covered with astroturf,” said Tariq Ansari, senior vice-president of Al Ain Cricket Association.
Great interest
“Al Ain Cricket Association has also been striving to promote cricket among Emiratis. In fact there are a lot of boys who have shown great interest in the game. We had lined up two all-Emirati teams for this tournament but they had to pull out due to other reasons,” added Ansari.
He said the support from Emirates Cricket Board has been overwhelming and following this tournament, big plans have been chalked out to promote cricket in the region. “The officials including David East (ECB’s CEO), Andy Russell (ECB National Development manager) have visited Al Ain and are happy with the progress made so far. They just want to see how successfully this tournament is conducted, following which we will pursue plans to own a ground,” he said.
A total of 12 teams will battle it out for the title in the tournament that will be played on a league-cum-knockout basis. The final will be played on August 15.
“Seven out of the total participating teams are from Al Ain. The teams have been divided into four groups with each team getting to play a minimum two matches. Top two teams from each group qualify for the quarterfinals,” said Ansari.
“We have had interests from more teams, but this year we restricted it to 12 and we plan to increase the numbers further next year.”
All matches will be played at the Al Ain Equestrian, Shooting and Golf Club under lights during the weekends.
