As a new, if not especially youthful, UAE team gets set for its latest restart via a summer tour to the UK, elsewhere in Britain one of its brightest young products is doing his best to step outside his comfort zone.
Ethan D’Souza has left behind the heat of the Abu Dhabi summer to play as an overseas professional in the Middlesex Premier League in London.
The 20-year-old batter was born and raised in the UAE capital, where he has played most of his cricket to date.
He has long been established as one of the most promising young talents in the country. He played alongside world stars in Abu Dhabi T10 aged 16, and had only just turned 17 when he debuted in international cricket against the West Indies.
The most recent of his 14 appearances for the UAE came almost a year ago now, though.
The national team’s latest facelift has been one of its most dramatic yet. Its squad for series in Jersey and Scotland over the coming weeks contains a number of experienced players from abroad who have been fast-tracked into the side by attaining UAE citizenship.
None of which seems to matter overly to D’Souza. His trip to the UK is motivated solely by a desire to better himself, not to prove a point to anyone else.
UAE selection might come again in the future. Whether it does or it doesn’t, he is intent on developing as a player and person via a summer spent playing for Finchley in north London.
“I’m always trying to get better, and I didn't see any better opportunity to do that than playing in the UK,” D’Souza said. “I have wanted to come to the UK for a few years. I feel like it really helps you as a player in various different ways.
“Hopefully when I do go back, I can test out my skills and conditions back home, and hopefully my performances can get noticed.
“But it's not something I'm too fussed about, honestly. If it comes, it'll come at the right time, so that's not something I'm too worried about right now.”
The gig with Finchley came on the recommendation of one his UK-based teammates with Sharjah Warriorz, Nathan Sowter, during the ILT20 last summer.
The club play in the top division of a league which involves many county cricketers. Usually, its overseas players are drawn from the sport’s conventional powers, such as Australia, South Africa, the West Indies, or the subcontinent.
Having one who is a product of the UAE is a novelty, but Peter Wellings, a former county pro who is Finchley’s coach, thinks the club have found a gem.
“He's a very relaxed, genuine character who gives off a calm vibe,” said Wellings, who acted on Sowter's recommendation by bringing D'Souza to Finchley.
“We've got guys who in our team have been involved in professional cricket. If you come as an overseas player who's played international cricket, it comes with some gravitas.
“A lot of the time it's not just the way your runs and your wickets, it's the way you go about your business which can make a big impression. From the word go, that's what Ethan did.”
If the cricket he is playing – weekend, red-ball matches of longer duration than the heavy T20 diet that pervades in the UAE – is alien to what he is used to, it's not the only thing.
North London has different characteristics to Abu Dhabi. As one example, there was a visible security presence on one of the roads outside the ground while Finchley’s players were taking on North Middlesex last weekend. There is a synagogue nearby; security around Jewish places of worship has been ramped up in the UK of late.
Home life is different, too. D’Souza is living with a Belgian family, who always host Finchley’s overseas players – despite the fact they have no knowledge of cricket.
“I've tried to explain it to them,” D’Souza says of people who have quickly become “like a second family” for him. “They don't really understand how we play a game for so long and it still goes to a draw.”
He says he was a little apprehensive when he first arrived in London. “It was a lot of mixed feelings, as you don't really know what's going to happen first season in the UK,” D’Souza said.
“You don't know what the competition is like. You don't know what the pitches are going to be like. But it’s a big challenge that I had to take on.
“Hopefully it helps me in my career in the future. It was nerve-racking at the start, but it was very easy to settle in.
“Everyone has been very welcoming, so that really helped, and we have been doing well recently in the season as well, so that helps.”
He helped ingratiate himself to his new teammates with a huge century earlier this month, when he made 163 in a league match.
“It was a brilliant innings against Twickenham,” Wellings said. “It was a wicket that offered some assistance to the bowlers and he handled it with aplomb. His playing of spin in particular is excellent for a young player.”
D’Souza hopes he can contribute more of those sort of knocks to help Finchley climb the table.
“We didn't really have many hundreds before that game, so it was very good to get a big one – a daddy ton, as they called it,” D’Souza said. “The whole club seemed to appreciate it. The whole week, everyone just kept saying, ‘well done, well done,’ so that felt good.”
