Dubai: The UAE national cricket team clinched a place in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Intercontinental Cup after emerging as champions of the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division Two in Dubai on April 15. The other countries in the fray are Scotland, Ireland, Netherlands, Kenya, Canada, Afghanistan and Namibia.
"It is great to be included in the prestigious Intercontinental Cup after a gap of four years. This will provide good exposure for our cricketers as we will be touring nearly seven countries and playing in different conditions against strong teams in matches that are to be played on a home-and-away basis," Mazhar Khan, the Administrator of the Emirates Cricket Board, told Gulf News.
The UAE will play their first match against Kenya next month on dates to be fixed by the two countries. Incidentally, the ICC has also decided that during each tour, the participating countries should also play a One-day International (ODI) series against each other along with the Intercontinental Cup, which is a four day event.
"The UAE will consider each tour as a series and the cricketers can strengthen their abilities in the longer as well as shorter versions of the game," said Khan.
The UAE will thus play in Canada, Ireland, Kenya, the Netherlands, Namibia and Scotland.
However, the home-and-away series against Afghanistan will be held in the UAE itself as Sharjah is Afghanistan's home venue due to the security situation in that country.
ODI status
It is understood that the one-day matches to be played alongside the Intercontinental Cup will have ODI status and the results will be counted for ranking purposes to enable these countries to qualify for the 50-over World Cup.
However, the ICC is yet to give a final decision on this matter and has stated that more information on the One-day series between all these countries will be announced later.
The UAE will get to play in the Intercontinental Cup during 2011-13. This edition of the tournament, running over a period of 28 months, is a longer competition than previous versions of the event.
Incidentally, the ICC Intercontinental Shield competition that ran alongside the ICC Intercontinental Cup last season, featuring sides from Namibia, the UAE, Bermuda and Uganda, has been discontinued.
The total prize money for the Intercontinental Cup is $254,000 (Dh932,966), with $100,000 for the winners and $40,000 for the runners-up.
Teams finishing in third and fourth place will receive $20,000 and $10,000 respectively. Even an outright win during the round-robin stage can fetch $3,000.
