UAE cricket team missing crucial indigenous element

Squad representing the Emirates at the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh does not contain one Emirati, or even Arabic speaker.

For years, expatriates such as Khurram Khan, centre, and Ahmed Raza, right, have been mainstays of the UAE cricket team. Although Raza was born here, neither are Emirati. Christopher Pike / The NationShow more

Four years ago, the head of cricket in this country said it was his dream to see a UAE team peopled by 11 Emiratis competing on the international stage.

Dilawar Mani, the former Emirates Cricket Board chief executive, wrote in a column for The National of his desire to see the sport thrive within the indigenous community.

He derided previous attempts to attract UAE nationals to the sport as “weak” and “feeble” and promised a renewed effort to arrest the problem.

And four years on? Stasis. Still nothing. UAE cricketers this week travelled to compete at their biggest event in 18 years with a squad of highly committed expatriate players, many who were born here and have lived here the whole of their lives.

Not one Emirati, though. Which is one less than there was in 2010. And no Arabic speakers, either.

Eleven was always a far-fetched figure. It would not be representative of the general make-up of the nation’s population, let alone the prevailing attitudes to sport.

Mani has since left, and David East, his successor, has inherited the problem.

He acknowledges much needs to be done, but he is positive that change can happen by building on the success of reaching three global tournaments in the space of 12 months.

“Do we need 11? Will we ever get 11? That will certainly not happen overnight,” East said.

"To be competitive, these cricketers are going to need to have been playing for a long while and will have been coached, too.

“We need to develop Arabic and Emirati champions who will fly the flag for cricket among that community.

"It is a big project and we are hoping to take small steps towards that by having an Emirati-only tournament, the Gulf Cup, at some stage during the course of this year."

One Emirati player, who represented the UAE at the 2008 Asia Cup but has since drifted from the sport, says he is “neutral” over whether or not to support the national team at the World Twenty20.

Given that Alawi Shukri’s father was a professional footballer, it was a surprise he did not follow the usual path of Emirati sporting passion.

Instead, he fell in love with cricket in his childhood after being introduced to the “foreign game” by his Sri Lankan au pair.

The Gulf Cup, to which East refers, was Shukri’s brainchild. He captained the UAE side to victory in past editions of the competition.

Yet his frustration at what he perceived to be a lack of official support led to his involvement in the game waning, as well as prompting his ambivalence towards the side playing under the UAE flag in Bangladesh.

“After my marriage, the second-best thing that has happened in my life was representing my country at the Asia Cup,” said the 24-year-old batsman, who hopes to be part of a UAE squad at the Asian Games in the future.

“[But] how could you support such a team if you couldn’t even get one of the team in front of Abu Dhabi TV to speak our mother-tongue language?”

East agrees that the lack of exposure in Arabic-language media has stunted the growth of the sport among the native community.

He is enthused, though, by the prospects of that changing as a result of the ECB’s recently agreed deal with the broadcaster OSN.

“We absolutely need to encourage an understanding and develop a passion for cricket in the Emirati community,” East said.

“Our new sponsor, OSN, is very committed to trying to support Emirati cricket.

“Being a broadcaster it is going to be able to communicate that message widely.

“We are working closely with them to try to create initiatives to promote cricket to Arab and Emirati communities.”

Shukri hopes players who have helped establish the UAE as a credible force in cricket shine in Bangladesh, such as the captain Khurram Khan, Shadeep Silva and Ahmed Raza.

Raza, the Sharjah-born spinner, grew up playing age-group cricket with Shukri. He believes the qualification for this World T20, as well as next year's 50-over version, could be crucial to attracting a new audience to the sport here.

“When an Asian is born they are given a cricket bat, and when an Emirati is born they are given a football,” Raza said.

“If you can change this culture, then Emiratis will come to the game.

“They are starting to know now since we have qualified for the World Cup. Now the local colleagues of mine really regard me well. They know I am playing for their country.

“They do not see it as my country, it is their country. Now they know we are achieving something for UAE and they like that. It is really helping.”