After the UAE’s 129-run loss to Pakistan in Napier, Mohammed Tauqir was asked what effect the national team’s appearance at the World Cup will have on the bid to attract Emiratis to the sport.
The timing might have been a little out. The national team were still licking their wounds after a second hefty defeat against a giant of Asian cricket within the space of four days.
Unquestionably, though, the country has a team of which to be proud. They are the best to have left these shores for a major competition and the adverse results against India and Pakistan have not changed that.
But will any Emiratis have seen it? Tauqir, who was selected to captain the side on account of the fact he is a UAE national, said the team’s performances in Australia and New Zealand would have been noticed.
“Cricket is an expat-dominated game in the UAE but I think our presence at the World Cup will inspire many more Emiratis to play the game,” he said.
“The kind of infrastructure and facilities we have, the game is growing among the Emirati population.”
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The last time the UAE played at a major one-day international tournament involving Test nations, at the 2008 Asia Cup, there were four Emiratis in the 15-man squad.
Seven years later, three of those were also part of the 30-man preliminary squad ahead of this World Cup. Tauqir and Fahad Al Hashmi, the seam bowler, made the final cut.
The third, Salman Farooq, was ruled ineligible for consideration in the weeks leading up to the competition.
The off-spinner was unable to travel to an ICC-accredited testing centre after his bowling action was deemed suspect by the umpires in the UAE’s series against Afghanistan at the end of last year.
The odd man out from that Asia Cup squad is Alawi Shukri. He has missed much cricket since then because of a mixture of work commitments and disillusionment with the sport.
Now at age 25, the left-handed batsman should be coming into his prime. He has recently returned to domestic cricket, but has some catching up to do.
He said he thinks the World Cup will only really have been noticed by Emiratis who already have some sort of involvement in cricket and estimated that number to be about 100 across the country.
But not many beyond that will have an idea the country is being represented on the global stage, he said.
“As much as my heart would like to say ‘yes’, I’m pretty confident there will be no effect and there is not at the moment,” Shukri said.
“A good example is my own family. At a Friday gathering we had around 45 people and no one was aware the national team is playing.
“When they ask how my cricket is going, my reply is that I had stopped but the team is doing very well and have qualified for the World Cup.
“The reaction from them was, is there a cricket World Cup?”
Shukri said the achievement of qualifying for the tournament in Australia and New Zealand deserves to be celebrated but has no idea what the future of cricket in the Emirates will look like after the competition ends.
“The current team have done superbly to qualify for the World Cup and the first two matches were excellent,” he said, referring the tense defeats to Zimbabwe and Ireland.
“The question is what will the current team do after playing the World Cup. Seniors will retire, the juniors might leave the country and the replacement will be ... ?”
On the eve of the event, senior officials from the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) were in Dubai, rather than Melbourne where the tournament was launched, to announce a new initiative aimed at Emirati development.
The ECB hopes to introduce cricket to 1,500 Emiratis over the next three years.
They have corporate backing for the venture, which will target Al Ain-based Emirati schoolboys initially.
“We need to make sure the next generation of cricketers that go to a World Cup have been nurtured through the type of project we are about to embark upon,” David East, the chief executive of the ECB, said last month.
“We undoubtedly have indigenous talent here, but it needs focus and clear direction.”
According to Qais Farooq, another Emirati who has played for the national team in the past and the brother of Salman, the schools programme is exactly what is required.
“I believe it would be a huge boost,” he said. “Perhaps the initiatives planned for other cities — Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, etc — could commence sooner rather than in 2016-2017, but I am personally very happy about the approach.”
He said the fact the UAE had yet to win a game at this World Cup will not matter to aspiring Emirati players.
“We have to appreciate the fact the UAE is playing in a global event after a gap of 18 years so nerves could have been a critical factor,” he said.
“If anything, I would see UAE’s participation in this event as a boost for the game and, hopefully, watching two UAE nationals be a part of the squad — with one captaining the side — will encourage young nationals to take up the sport.”
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