Abu Dhabi: With a large expat Asian population here in the UAE, cricket has always been one of the most sought-after sports.
That has led to much demand for cricket academies in the country. And, in the capital, the MCC Zayed Cricket Academy has been the pioneer for developing young aspirants. It has served as a supply chain for the UAE national youth teams over the years and has become an integral part of the Emirates Cricket Board’s development programme.
Established in 2005, when Dr B.R. Shetty was president of Abu Dhabi Cricket Council, MCC Zayed Cricket Academy is situated next to the Zayed Cricket Stadium. Come December, it will be completing a decade of functioning and, in that period of time, it has devised a series of cricket programmes designed to identify talented cricketers and develop their cricket education accordingly with the help of experienced coaches, state-of-the-art facilities and a network of competitive clubs playing under the auspices of the Abu Dhabi Cricket Club.
Grooming youngsters
“There are a lot of good players coming up from this academy. We had five players in the 2014 Under-19 World Cup squad and, over the years, we have maintained a good pool of talent,” said head coach Qazi Ayub.
“The best thing for the boys is they get to play regularly at the Shaikh Zayed Stadium and the two adjoining Ovals, where international matches are played. We started with 120 boys and now we have 300.”
Zayed Cricket Academy have a major shot in the arm with the Marylebone Cricket Club coming on board and also playing their traditional English season opener against the previous season’s champions here. They also provide a free tour of the Lord’s ground for the academy team whenever they tour the UK.
