Dougie Brown says he hopes more players from the capital will have an impact on the UAE national team, after he was appointed the director of cricket for Abu Dhabi Cricket.
The former UAE coach has had an involvement at Zayed Cricket Stadium since being on the coaching staff of Team Abu Dhabi in the T10 league last year.
Now he has been formally placed in charge of developing the game in the capital.
“I’m very excited about a new challenge,” Brown, the former Scotland and England all-rounder, said.
“We have big ideas here in Abu Dhabi about where we want take the academy.
“The facilities are world-class and there are a good bunch of people here who have an excellent vision of where they want to take cricket in Abu Dhabi.”
Historically, the UAE national team has mostly been made up of players who are based in Dubai and Sharjah. The representative team has its training base at the ICC Academy in Dubai.
Brown is hopeful more players from the capital will find a route to national duty, but also hopes players will aspire to represent the city’s own franchise side, too.
Team Abu Dhabi joined the T10 competition for the first time last season.
“Going back to my time with the UAE, the number of players from here who went through to make a decent impact on UAE senior cricket was actually quite limited,” Brown said.
“That might have been linked to an inability to train [at the UAE team base in Dubai] every day for logistical reasons.
“But with the T10 side at the forefront of everything we are doing, we have something tangible for all of the players in the academy structure.
“We want them to aspire to represent that team. It provides us a real focus for the academy pathway.”
Two UAE players, Rohan Mustafa and Rameez Shahzad, played in the yellow of the home team at the Abu Dhabi T10 last year.
Brown hopes home grown players from the capital will be able to play alongside the international stars in the franchise team in the future.
“We want to ensure that we can promote from within our own pathway,” Brown said.
“We won’t see that overnight, but we want to make sure we bring the right players to the pathway and the Team Abu Dhabi franchise, and give them an opportunity they have never had before.”
