The year 1983 wasn't the best of times for England's cricket team. After putting up a brave fight against Australia during their tour of the country to reclaim The Ashes test series cup, Team England returned home defeated.
But a stop in Sharjah on their way back home would have likely cheered up the team, led by Sir Ian Botham, who's hailed as one of the greatest players in the history of the game.
In March 1983, England played an unofficial charity match against Pakistan in the Bukhatir International Double Wicket Tournament at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. The cricket festival was organised by Emirati businessman Abdul Rahman Bukhatir, who had first fallen for the game while at school in Karachi, and is known as the father of cricket in the UAE.
The Sharjah Cricket Stadium was also a fairly new venue then. Built in the early 1980s with the support of Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Ruler of Sharjah, and Bukhatir, it first started hosting international cricket games in 1981.
The Cricketers Benefit Fund Series, which brought England to the UAE, later became known as the Sharjah Cup, and has brought with it some of the most memorable matches in the history of the one-day international format.
England lost the match against Pakistan, but judging by photographs, Botham and company had a whale of a time outside of the game. Players Derek Pringle, Allan Lamb, David Gower and Robin Jackman were pictured watching a camel race in Sharjah while another photo shows Lamb enjoying a water ski with Sharjah’s famous Blue Souk in the background.
Botham was also seen admiring a falcon and Gower posed for photographs beside a fisherman's abra on the beach. One fun image shows Botham, Gower and Graeme Fowler while on a desert safari. In the picture, Fowler and Gower can be seen dressed in kanduras, complete with ghutra and egal, holding their cricket bats as Gotham playfully holds what looks like a mock sword over Gower's neck.
