A Twenty20 cricket league for former stars of the game, such as Brian Lara and Graham Gooch, will make its home in the UAE when the Masters Cricket League is unveiled in Dubai on Wednesday.
West Indian Lara holds the record for the highest individual first class innings of 501, while Gooch was for many years’ England’s top Test runs scorer, before Alistair Cook surpassed him this week.
Also confirmed for the new league are the Australian world cup-winning captain Allan Border and the game’s greatest wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist, as well as the Pakistan pair of all-rounder Wasim Akram and batsman Ramiz Raja.
India’s Kiran More and Australian Dean Jones are involved in organising the tournament and former Australian batsman Jones said the Masters Cricket League is planning on a 10-year run.
In a video post that he shared on YouTube and Twitter to announce sketchy details, Jones said yesterday: “Dean Sports, my events company, is very excited to bring to the fans in UAE an iconic tournament.”
He said details will be announced on Wednesday at an iconic venue ( the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai). “Where else have you heard such big news in the UAE?”
The tournament has been months in the planning and is believed to have the backing of the International Cricket Council and the world body representing players, the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations.
The 15-match tournament is expected to be staged early next year.
The Grand Midwest Hotels group will be the main sponsor for the event.
Talks are continuing in attempts to add India players to the league.
kshyam@thenational.ae
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CAF Champions League semi-finals first-leg fixtures
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Al Ahly (EGY) v Entente Setif (ALG) (11PM)
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