Sport | Cricket
UAE cricketers go all out for World Cup trophy
Fly Emirates and Dubai XI teams rise to the challenge on makeshift pitch at event to promote showpiece
- By K.R. Nayar, Senior Reporter
- Published: 00:06 January 19, 2011
- Emirates airline’s cricket team Fly Emirates took the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 trophy to a makeshift desert pitch in Dubai and played a challenge match with a group of local players against the backdrop of the iconic Shaikh Zayed Road skyline.
- Image Credit: Supplied
Dubai: The International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricket World Cup trophy, for which 14 nations will compete from February 19, was displayed in a makeshift pitch near Safa Park last Friday, to whet the appetite of cricket lovers in the UAE.
Emirates airline — an official ICC partner — made the trophy available for street players and even arranged a match.
Fly Emirates team — consisting of employees from the Emirates group — played against Dubai XI — consisting of players who regularly play every holiday for fun. UAE's hard-hitting batsman Amjad Javed, who works for Emirates, was one of the players.
"It was a great feeling to play the match in front of the World Cup. I felt nice to touch the World Cup [trophy] before even the next world champions touched it," Javed, who has played many whirlwind knocks in One-day cricket told Gulf News.
Fly Emirates skipper Nigel Fernandez and UAE's most consistent opener Arshad Ali, who is also a prolific scorer for Fly Emirates in domestic cricket, was among those who played in the match.
The World Cup sparkled against the background of the iconic Shaikh Zayed Road skyline as the match was keenly fought.
Maurice Flanagan, the Executive Vice-Chairman, Emirates Airline and Group, who is a keen lover of the game said: "An everlasting image of Dubai is seeing thousands of cricketers playing on desert pitches every week".
"A heavy ball — the same size as a tennis ball — makeshift stumps and an old bat transform almost every spare plot of land in Dubai into a meeting place where friends gather to get their cricket fix," he said.
Sharing the passion
"It is a way of life for them and captures the spirit of the game perfectly.
"Emirates shares their passion for the sport — sponsoring the ICC and many other properties on both a global and grassroots level — and thought bringing the ICC World Cup trophy to them would be a great way to mark the countdown to the opening match on the 19th of February."
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