When Rameez Shahzad first loaded up his bags before moving to England to study, he might as well have packed his autograph books as his university books.
Rameez, who last played for the UAE national team at the 2008 ACC Trophy in Malaysia, is dovetailing his studies in business management at the University of Newcastle with playing cricket as on overseas professional in the north of England.
The Sharjah-raised all-rounder's cricket commitments have not solely extended to club matches, first with Sunderland and, from next summer, his new club Barnard Castle.
He has also trained regularly with Durham, one of the leading county sides. As a result, he has had to navigate a number of net sessions against some of the country's fastest bowlers, such as Graham Onions and Liam Plunkett, the England seamers.
"I faced Onions once. Very fast!" Rameez, 22, said during a mid-term break back in the UAE. "Plunkett bowls very quick in the nets - and he likes bowling bouncers.
"They are very good people. When you meet them, they come up and introduce themselves and treat you like you are one of them."
Rameez is one half of the UAE's lone father-son international cricketing family to date. His father, Shahzad Altaf, who opened the bowling for the national team at the 1996 World Cup, is not overly concerned that his son is being distracted from his studies by sport.
"He is a good student when he wants to be, but all he wants to do is play cricket - all day every day," said Altaf.
The overseas professional has long been a feature of league cricket in the UK, with greats such as Gary Sobers and Shane Warne among those who found obscure summer homes in their early days in the sport.
However, these players are usually imported from more obvious cricket centres like South Africa, Australia or the West Indies. Having one from the UAE playing in the North East Premier League is somewhat of an oddity.
"It is strange, but mostly they just know me as a slogger," Rameez said. "When I come into bat usually they open the field out.
"Barnard Castle [the club he will join next summer] is a small place. If you are the overseas player, everyone wants to watch you.
"The standard is much better than here. There is more competition, more talent and the standard is very professional."
The UAE cricket export has obviously impressed. He was picked to play for Durham's second XI against England's Under 19 side, and also posted two half-centuries to help the cause of the county's academy sidein a four-team tournament at Loughborough University.
He hopes to stay in the UK for four years, thereby becoming English-qualified, and thus make a bid to win a full county contract.
He was also employed as a net bowler ahead of a one-day international between England and Pakistan at Durham's Emirates International Stadium at the end of the summer.
Saeed Ajmal gave him tips to improve his off-spin bowling, while Paul Collingwood, the England batsman, had extra time batting against him as his struggles against spin were ongoing in the middle.
The match was played in the immediate aftermath of the spot-fixing scandal breaking, but you would not have known it, according to Rameez.
"We did not really feel any difference," he said. "They were all friendly, even the Pakistani players."
[ pradley@thenational.ae ]
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Revibe
Started: 2022
Founders: Hamza Iraqui and Abdessamad Ben Zakour
Based: UAE
Industry: Refurbished electronics
Funds raised so far: $10m
Investors: Flat6Labs, Resonance and various others
SPEC SHEET: APPLE M3 MACBOOK AIR (13")
Processor: Apple M3, 8-core CPU, up to 10-core CPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Display: 13.6-inch Liquid Retina, 2560 x 1664, 224ppi, 500 nits, True Tone, wide colour
Memory: 8/16/24GB
Storage: 256/512GB / 1/2TB
I/O: Thunderbolt 3/USB-4 (2), 3.5mm audio, Touch ID
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3
Battery: 52.6Wh lithium-polymer, up to 18 hours, MagSafe charging
Camera: 1080p FaceTime HD
Video: Support for Apple ProRes, HDR with Dolby Vision, HDR10
Audio: 4-speaker system, wide stereo, support for Dolby Atmos, Spatial Audio and dynamic head tracking (with AirPods)
Colours: Midnight, silver, space grey, starlight
In the box: MacBook Air, 30W/35W dual-port/70w power adapter, USB-C-to-MagSafe cable, 2 Apple stickers
Price: From Dh4,599
New schools in Dubai
Kill
Director: Nikhil Nagesh Bhat
Starring: Lakshya, Tanya Maniktala, Ashish Vidyarthi, Harsh Chhaya, Raghav Juyal
Rating: 4.5/5
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Champions parade (UAE timings)
7pm Gates open
8pm Deansgate stage showing starts
9pm Parade starts at Manchester Cathedral
9.45pm Parade ends at Peter Street
10pm City players on stage
11pm event ends
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Name: JustClean
Based: Dubai with offices in other GCC countries
Launch year: 2016
Number of employees: 160+ with 21 nationalities in eight cities
Sector: online laundry and cleaning services
Funding: $30m from Kuwait-based Faith Capital Holding and Gulf Investment Corporation
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kinetic 7
Started: 2018
Founder: Rick Parish
Based: Abu Dhabi, UAE
Industry: Clean cooking
Funding: $10 million
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Leeds United 3 (Harrison 12', Bamford 30', Klich 66')
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Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal
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Argentina 47 (Tries: Sanchez, Tuculet (2), Mallia (2), De La Fuente, Bertranou; Cons: Sanchez 5, Urdapilleta)
United States 17 (Tries: Scully (2), Lasike; Cons: MacGinty)
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Company: Eco Way
Started: December 2023
Founder: Ivan Kroshnyi
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Electric vehicles
Investors: Bootstrapped with undisclosed funding. Looking to raise funds from outside
The specs
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Transmission: seven-speed PDK dual clutch automatic
Power: 375bhp
Torque: 520Nm
Price: Dh332,800
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Power: 118hp
Torque: 149Nm
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Married Malala
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The 24-year-old married Pakistan cricket executive Asser Malik last year in a small ceremony in the UK.
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Xpanceo
Started: 2018
Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality
Funding: $40 million
Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)
The specs
Engine: 2-litre 4-cylinder and 3.6-litre 6-cylinder
Power: 220 and 280 horsepower
Torque: 350 and 360Nm
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
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Western Region Asia Cup Qualifier
Results
UAE beat Saudi Arabia by 12 runs
Kuwait beat Iran by eight wickets
Oman beat Maldives by 10 wickets
Bahrain beat Qatar by six wickets
Semi-finals
UAE v Qatar
Bahrain v Kuwait
Indoor Cricket World Cup Dubai 2017
Venue Insportz, Dubai; Admission Free
Fixtures - Open Men 2pm: India v New Zealand, Malaysia v UAE, Singapore v South Africa, Sri Lanka v England; 8pm: Australia v Singapore, India v Sri Lanka, England v Malaysia, New Zealand v South Africa
Fixtures - Open Women Noon: New Zealand v England, UAE v Australia; 6pm: England v South Africa, New Zealand v Australia
FIGHT CARD
Bantamweight Hamza Bougamza (MAR) v Jalal Al Daaja (JOR)
Catchweight 67kg Mohamed El Mesbahi (MAR) v Fouad Mesdari (ALG)
Lighweight Abdullah Mohammed Ali (UAE) v Abdelhak Amhidra (MAR)
Catchweight 73kg Mostafa Ibrahim Radi (PAL) v Yazid Chouchane (ALG)
Middleweight Yousri Belgaroui (TUN) v Badreddine Diani (MAR)
Catchweight 78kg Rashed Dawood (UAE) v Adnan Bushashy (ALG)
Middleweight Sallaheddine Dekhissi (MAR) v Abdel Emam (EGY)
Catchweight 65kg Rachid Hazoume (MAR) v Yanis Ghemmouri (ALG)
Lighweight Mohammed Yahya (UAE) v Azouz Anwar (EGY)
Catchweight 79kg Omar Hussein (PAL) v Souhil Tahiri (ALG)
Middleweight Tarek Suleiman (SYR) v Laid Zerhouni (ALG)
UAE's final round of matches
- Sep 1, 2016 Beat Japan 2-1 (away)
- Sep 6, 2016 Lost to Australia 1-0 (home)
- Oct 6, 2016 Beat Thailand 3-1 (home)
- Oct 11, 2016 Lost to Saudi Arabia 3-0 (away)
- Nov 15, 2016 Beat Iraq 2-0 (home)
- Mar 23, 2017 Lost to Japan 2-0 (home)
- Mar 28, 2017 Lost to Australia 2-0 (away)
- June 13, 2017 Drew 1-1 with Thailand (away)
- Aug 29, 2017 v Saudi Arabia (home)
- Sep 5, 2017 v Iraq (away)
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Almouneer
Started: 2017
Founders: Dr Noha Khater and Rania Kadry
Based: Egypt
Number of staff: 120
Investment: Bootstrapped, with support from Insead and Egyptian government, seed round of
$3.6 million led by Global Ventures
Women’s World T20, Asia Qualifier
UAE results
Beat China by 16 runs
Lost to Thailand by 10 wickets
Beat Nepal by five runs
Beat Hong Kong by eight wickets
Beat Malaysia by 34 runs
Standings (P, W, l, NR, points)
1. Thailand 5 4 0 1 9
2. UAE 5 4 1 0 8
3. Nepal 5 2 1 2 6
4. Hong Kong 5 2 2 1 5
5. Malaysia 5 1 4 0 2
6. China 5 0 5 0 0
Final
Thailand v UAE, Monday, 7am