UAE cricket team is looking for you

Do you have what it takes to crack the unnerving resolve of Virat Kohli at the crease, with your bowling attack?

Can your skill with the bat even break a sweat out on Lasith Malinga’s brow?

If you have what it takes, then the UAE wants you on its team.

With the ongoing World T20 cricket tournament reaching fever pitch, the UAE’s national board is using the momentum to hunt for budding new talent across the emirates to bowl its selectors with your skill at the crease.

Emirates Cricket Board hosted its first talent hunt in Ajman over the weekend, with over 250 budding hopefuls batting for the final selection.

Organisers say the Emirates Cricket Talent Hunt ‘aims to identify the next possible stars of UAE Cricket’s men’s and women’s representative teams and will be held across the Emirates through a four-week roadshow’.

All those between the ages of 18 and 30 years, male and female, have the chance to step up and attend any of the remaining four sessions held in their representative emirate.

ECB states selectors Mohammed Tauqir, Khurram Khan and UAE Head Coach Aqib Javed will be on the lookout for the country’s next rising star.

Commenting on the Talent Hunt, ECB member and selector Zayed Abbas said in a statement: “We, the Board, are acutely aware that we have an extremely deep player-pool of cricketers who would qualify under the ICC regulations to represent the UAE in junior, women’s and men’s formats.

“However, a large number of these players simply have not had the opportunity to show us their skills for various reasons.”

He continued: “The Talent Hunt is an open session for cricketers living in the UAE, and in the Emirate where the roadshow sessions will be held, and we strongly encourage interested persons to come along and show us their abilities.”

Following the first session held on March 26th at the Ajman Oval nets, a women’s only session will be held at the Sharjah Stadium nets on April 2nd, from 7pm to 9pm, which is open to talent aged 14 years and over.

Open Men’s and Women’s sessions will then follow on April 9th at Abu Dhabi’s Zayed Cricket Stadium nets (6pm to 9pm), on April 16th at the ICC Academy nets from 6pm to 9pm in Dubai, and on April 23rd at Sharjah Stadium nets - 7pm to 10pm.

The Talent Hunt runs concurrently with Emirates Cricket and Al Ain Water’s junior National Cricket Tournament, where U16 and U19 players have already undergone a selection process, through their respective cricket council, and where junior players have been selected to represent their councils at the upcoming Inter Emirates National Cricket Tournament.