By Fawad Hussain
Doha: Qatar and Saudi Arabia will clash on the cricket field when the two GCC countries will meet at the Friendly Cup later this month in Doha.
The event which will be hosted by the Qatar Cricket Association (QOC) from January 21 to 23 involves three matches including a couple of Twenty20 games and a one-dayer.
The matches will be played at Asian Cricket Town Stadium.
“It’s going to be a big cricket event as both the teams will field their best players,” QCA Secretary-General Manzoor Ahmed, flanked by QCA President MA Shahid and Tournament Director Gul Khan told a press conference yesterday at QCA Head Office.
“Our national team was not playing matches since a long time. We had a window and proposed a series to Saudi Arabian cricket officials who accepted our invitation.
“The Saudi Arabian side will arrive in Doha on January 21 and play a Twenty20 the same day. The two sides will meet in a one-day game on January 22 followed by the second and last Twenty20 match on January 23,” he said.
The first Twenty20 game will start at 6:30pm while the one-day which will be played on Friday will start at 2pm. The last T20 will kick off at 9am due to visitors’ departure on the same day.
“The schedule has been finalised keeping in view to give fans a good chance to watch the games. We are expecting a packed crowd in all the matches.”
Ahmed said the QCA has full support of the International Cricket Council (ICC) for the event.
“The ICC wants the GCC countries to play more and they encourage such events. We have the full support of the ICC regarding the event.”
The QCA Secretary-General also thanked the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) and Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports for their support.
“ We are very thankful to QOC and Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports for their continuous support in the promotion of sport.”
While the Saudis will field full-strength national team for the matches, QCA will also leave no stone unturned to select the best possible squad.
“ We will select a squad of 22 players for the Friendly Cup. To select the best players we will hold a trial match on Monday (tomorrow). Our coaches will assess the performance of players before finalising the squad. We are hopeful of success against the visitors,” he said.
Ahmed added the QCA will continue to host such matches.
“ Recently, we hosted teams from Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait. We will hold more such matches and the QCA is also involved in talks with Pakistan,” the QCA Secretary-General said before stressing the need of sponsors.
“ Qatar has huge potential for cricket. All we need is sponsors and we are working for it,” he said.
Cricket matches have seen a good number of fans’ turnout in recent years in Doha. Last month, a packed crowd of over 10,000 cricket fans watched a friendly match between Qatar XI and Pakistan. In 2014, top players including West Indian great Brian Lara and Sri Lankan legend Sanath Jayasuriya featured in a friendly game that saw over 10,000 spectators.
The Peninsula
