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.
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Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara
Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
SAUDI RESULTS
Team Team Pederson (-40), Team Kyriacou (-39), Team De Roey (-39), Team Mehmet (-37), Team Pace (-36), Team Dimmock (-33)
Individual E. Pederson (-14), S. Kyriacou (-12), A van Dam (-12), L. Galmes (-12), C. Hull (-9), E. Givens (-8),
G. Hall (-8), Ursula Wikstrom (-7), Johanna Gustavsson (-7)
