Cricket writers get on field experience

Dubai: It was a memorable cricketing experience for the media reporting the Pakistan-England series at the International Cricket Council (ICC) Global Cricket academy ground. The English media along with journalists from UAE played a match against the ICC on Saturday.

The best cricket writers from England got an on field experience of the wicket and the conditions here. The ICC team won the match by 45 runs on their home ground. John Etheridge of The Sun, who led the media team, said: “It was a great feeling to play on a wicket where Misbah Ul Haq, Younis Khan and Umar Gul were practicing the day before and also be in the dressing room of the England team.”

The ICC led by Sami Ul Hasan, won the toss and elected to bat. Openers Jon Long and Tauqueer Hussain put on 45 runs. Tim Anderson, the former Australian star player and ICC Global Development manager top scored for ICC with an unbeaten 29. Alison Mitchell of BBC who played alongside the male journalists, fielded brilliantly while Stephen Brenkley of Independent displayed his agility as a fine wicket keeper. Barney Douglas of ECB was the most successful bowler with two wickets.

The Media team lost early wickets. Fasail Hasnain and Chris Tetley took two wickets each to restrict the Media to 113 for 8 in the allotted 20 overs. David Clough of PA top scored with 39 runs. The match was officiated by Vince van der Bijl, the ICC Umpires’ and referees manager and veteran Pakistan journalist Qamar Ahmed and Chandresh Narayanan as media co-ordinator.

The Media team from the various newspaper were John Etheridge (The Sun), Dean Wilson (Mirror), Andy Wilson (Guardian), Chris Stocks (Metro), Scyld Berry (Sunday Telegraph), Nick Hoult (Telegraph), Barney Douglas (ECB), David Glough (PA) Patrick Kidd (The Times), Alison Mitchell (BBC), Gideon Broaks (Express), Stephen Brenkley (Independent), Jai Prasad (Express), Osman Samiuddin (National) and K.R. Nayar (Gulf News).

ICC team: Sami Ul Hasan, Tauqeer Hussain, Lucy Benjamin, Rohit Nagu, Jon Long, Eddie Fitzgibbon, Tim Anderson, Andy Hobbs, Faisal Hasnain, Farshad Aboobacker, Veeru, Chris Tetley and Remus D’Cruz .