ABU DHABI // The Emirates Cricket Board is set to embark on a journey to improve the quality of the national team players. The governing body for the sport in the Emirates is also to employ full-time selectors and offer central contracts for those shortlisted for the national team squad as full-time cricketers.
“It is a really exciting time and we are in a rebuilding stage, there is no question,” said David East, the ECB chief executive.
“With the team getting old together, we need to change the way we go about things, and one of the key things that we are going to do is moving to formal central contracts for the players.
East said he noticed at the World Twenty20 in Ireland and Scotland in July that the UAE were the only team that did not have full-time professionals, prompting the ECB into a change of approach.
“We have been lucky to have some really talented individuals but the opposition is moving far ahead of us and we are playing catch-up,” he said.
“So we have to adapt and channel our energies into supporting full-time cricketers. That really is the headline in the change of direction that we are doing.”
The central contract is designed to link in with the budgeted year of the ECB, and East is hopeful they would be able to implement it in around three weeks’ time.
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However, details of the contracts have not been revealed and even the selection of players will only be done once the selectors are named.
“As far as the selectors are concerned we are pretty close,” East said.
“For the first time, the ECB will have professional selectors, selectors identified as being former international cricketers who have a good insight into the way cricket is run here in the UAE, in the Associate world and the international stage as well.”
The former Essex wicketkeeper-batsman also said the national team will still look to their best part-time players as some of them are in good positions in their careers away from cricket.
“The vacuum that we create is a group of players who are fighting for the opportunity to work on full-time cricket contracts,” East said. Aaqib Javed, the UAE coach, welcomed the new developments.
“Most of the time, dealing with the players for three and a half years, I realised we survived in the World Cup on two or three very good players,” he said.
“And what I’ve realised, if you ask me now, is that it has been really tough, especially the amount of cricket that we are playing at the moment.
“We used to have two to three periods when we used to play cricket in a year.
“We used to play a four-day game and two 50-over-a-side and then after six months you go and play seven days of cricket and now it is more than 100 days of cricket.
“It is impossible to carry on like a part-time team. This is the best way for UAE cricket to move forward. There are a number of ways you can provide the right environment for the players like professional training, arranging tours.
“You know, I’ve been really struggling to arrange players for these games because it is impossible, you can’t take leave everyday from your office.
“So, full-time players and a structure around them will be really helpful for UAE cricket.”
apassela@thenational.ae
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