Sharjah's second innings

Sharjah Cricket Stadium has hosted the greatest number of international matches, but it sees little use these days and is sliding into decay.

The Sharjah Cricket Stadium recently hosted a fixture featuring the UAE against the Netherlands.

A thick layer of dust covers the seats at Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium, where thousands of fans once cheered superstars of the sport.

Where television cameras once beamed images to the world, projecting images of Sharjah and the Emirates to the world, weeds now grow in cracked concrete. The echo of cheers and celebration has long since faded, replaced by silence. The stands have fallen into disrepair and decay. This is the forlorn fate of a forgotten national treasure that is starved of investment and the international spotlight.

But this ground, which has hosted more international fixtures than any other in the world, may soon have more than memories to sustain it, with the announcement that it will host a prestigious and - crucial for its recovery - lucrative series next year. While this could mark the beginning of a renaissance for Sharjah, its re-emergence as a major international cricketing centre is far from assured. With a lack of local investment, any prospect of renovation is reliant on attracting international teams. But will the Sharjah ground's rich heritage and history be enough to persuade teams to return to this crumbling cricketing citadel?

A ban was imposed by the Indian Government in 2001 on their national team playing at Sharjah following match fixing allegations. Since 2003 leading teams have boycotted the stadium and no major international fixtures have been played. Since then, the Sharjah Cricket Council (SCC) and the Emirates Cricket Board have been promoting the venue across the world; last week, they announced that the lucrative Bangladesh tournament, the Port-city Cricket League, would be staged in the stadium in late March and that the Bangladeshi national team would use the stadium as a base while preparing for next year's Twenty20 World Cup.

Mazhar Khan, the secretary of the SCC, said these developments could put Sharjah back on the cricketing map. "Sharjah has remained an important local ground during the international ban, hosting around 150 fixtures a year," he said. "But in the last year, we have been striving to bring higher-profile, international teams to Sharjah. We have already hosted regional Asian Cricket Council matches and are now looking to keep our options and see the return of leading sides like India.

"Renovation of the stadium is dependent on attracting major series, as we need to generate income to pay for the repairs. We need to modernise the lighting, changing rooms, media facilities and transport infrastructure at the ground in order to make it a leading stadium once more." The ground is owned and maintained by the private Sharjah Cricket Club, which has kept the venue running through match fees and subscriptions but lacks the money for a renovation.

The Emirates Cricket Board receives an annual grant of US$685,000 (Dh2.5 million) from the International Cricket Council but has not released any money for restoring the stadium. And in its rundown condition, the venue is not an appealing destination for a foreign team. The Netherlands captain, Jeroen Smits, was one of the last international players to visit the ground and thinks a complete rebuilding is needed for Sharjah to be a potential World Cup venue.

"When we returned to our dressing room after the day's play, we saw a massive rat run in front of us," he recalled. "The showers were unusable, and you certainly wouldn't choose to use the toilets. "The scoreboard was out of order, and the whole stadium was very dirty. The stands can't be trusted to hold a crowd of more than a few hundred. They are a safety hazard." This assessment is shared by Alawi Shukri al Braik, captain of the UAE Nationals, a development side made up exclusively of Emiratis, which competed at the recent Sharjah-hosted Ramadan Cup.

"For Sharjah to be restored to what it was will be a very long process," he said. "Every aspect of the stadium needs to be reviewed and restored, from the seats to the pitch to the toilets. "It is not impossible, but it will require a lot of investment. The UAE is attracting a lot of international fixtures now, so Sharjah may be considered as an option, but only if urgent changes are made to the stadium."

AC Subramanian, a local club cricketer, believes that the ground retains a prestige that may help to attract leading teams, in spite of the amount of structural restoration that is needed. "There are few grounds in the world like Sharjah that are imbued with memories of star players of the past," he said. "It still has that appeal and, like Lord's in London, is a venue where cricketers are hungry to play because of its history and heritage. But assurances must be given to prospective teams that renovation work will be carried out."

In the past two years, the UAE's cricketing limelight has been taken over by the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi and the new, 25,000-seat cricket stadium in Dubai Sports City. Pakistan's national team, which adopted the UAE as its base after terrorist attacks at home, has hosted two major international series in the Dubai and Abu Dhabi venues, and will face New Zealand at both venues this autumn.

Sharjah has been left with low-key, low-yield fixtures such as the Pro-Arch Trophy, involving English county sides, and Asian Cricket Council tournaments. Rather than competing with these newer venues, however, a restored Sharjah stadium could raise the UAE's overall profile in international cricket. "We support the idea that the renovation of Sharjah could help the UAE in a bid for a major tournament, and even a World Cup," said the Sharjah Cricket Council's Mazhar Khan. "Not many countries have three world-class stadiums, and we have other advantages, too, being safe and secure and with favourable weather conditions."