DUBAI // Yesterday, a South Africa side which were supposedly riven by a calamitous fall-out brought about by a debate over skin-colour delivered a crushing victory over their closest rivals to the title of "world's best".
Their win was set up by a Muslim batsman of Indian extraction, with the knock-out blows executed by a young Afrikaner bowler.
At the same time, a few thousand miles away, a UAE team peopled by expatriates were revelling in a win that was every bit as satisfying in its own way. And, through it all, there was not an Arab player in sight.
The World Twenty20 qualifying tournament being staged in Dubai and Abu Dhabi this week is a riot of colour, and that is not solely confined to the team uniforms.
The ICC are rightly proud of the cosmopolitanism on display among the eight teams vying for a trip to the Big Show in the Caribbean. It is an example of how ICC funding has seeped through and taken root beyond the game's traditional, old colonial territories.
But whither the Emirati players? Can the development process really be considered a success if the host nation do not have a single indigenous player in the side?
Haroon Lorgat, chief executive of the sport's Dubai-based governing body, could not be better placed to argue the point. He was the convenor of selectors when Ashwell Prince was appointed South Africa's first black vice-captain.
Lorgat himself had a playing career of great distinction. As a fast-medium bowler, he was described by the respected South African journalist Neil Manthorp as "an outstanding cricketer denied the chance ever to represent South Africa because of apartheid".
"The ideal is to have the locals playing," admitted the Port Elizabeth-born Lorgat. "But you cannot deny that the expats bring the game to the town or country, then people in the local set-up will pick up the game. You need time before they will actually come through."
In 2008, the Emirates Cricket Board made a brief attempt to include a quota of four Emirati players in every 16-man senior national squad they selected. They took Salman Farooq, Alawi Shukri, Fahad al Hashmi and Mohammed Tauqir to the Asia Cup in Pakistan that summer, but the UAE's take on the target system unravelled quickly thereafter.
The number of Emiratis playing at the top level has dwindled to the extent that when Tauqir, the long-serving off-spinner, was ruled out of this qualifying event with a hand injury, there were none left.
Lorgat says there is a time and a place for implementing quota systems. "To set the record straight, the South African set-up did not have quotas at the national level," he said. "It was lower down the system where a quota system was put in place to give disadvantaged players the opportunity to play.
"As you went up the line there were targets that were put into place. If they were not met, that is different to a quota not being met. I would be reluctant to put quotas into the national set-up, but I think in schools and clubs and other areas, where you could encourage the locals to participate by providing opportunities for them, then it could be considered at that level."
However, Lorgat says the "stringent criteria" governing player eligibility in cricket means national teams will only be represented by players who have already displayed a sizeable commitment to that country. "Don't forget, we have quite stringent criteria before you become eligible to play for a national team," said Lorgat.
To represent any of the eight nations competing on these shores this week, a player has to have been resident there for at least four years. Only two per squad are permitted under that eligibility criteria. The rest must be either passport-holders, born there, or resident for more than seven years.
"Stringent" seems a fair assessment of those regulations, when set against rugby, which allows players to represent the country where they reside after a mere three years. Many of the UAE squad were born here, yet are not considered nationals.
Naemuddin Aslam, the batsman and occasional wicketkeeper for the national team, was born in Dubai. He is from a family of cricketers who all consider themselves Indian, yet could not be more proud to have their brother representing the UAE. That he ran out Virender Sehwag on his ODI debut is a story for them all to dine out on.
Shoaib Sarwar, the all-rounder, was born in Sharjah, where his father has lived for 35 years, after leaving his native Pakistan.
His commitment to the UAE team could hardly be questioned. Ahead of the 2008 Asia Cup he quit his job with an online trading company so he could commit more time to playing cricket.
"These guys have all qualified, and they may be living in this part of the world for years and years and years," added Lorgat. "They might regard themselves as people from the UAE, albeit without having national citizenship, but they still qualify in terms of our criteria."
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What is cyberbullying?
Cyberbullying or online bullying could take many forms such as sending unkind or rude messages to someone, socially isolating people from groups, sharing embarrassing pictures of them, or spreading rumors about them.
Cyberbullying can take place on various platforms such as messages, on social media, on group chats, or games.
Parents should watch out for behavioural changes in their children.
When children are being bullied they they may be feel embarrassed and isolated, so parents should watch out for signs of signs of depression and anxiety
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Engine: 2.2-litre, turbodiesel
Transmission: 6-speed auto
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Nancy 9 (Hassa Beek)
Nancy Ajram
(In2Musica)
Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
PROFILE OF CURE.FIT
Started: July 2016
Founders: Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori
Based: Bangalore, India
Sector: Health & wellness
Size: 500 employees
Investment: $250 million
Investors: Accel, Oaktree Capital (US); Chiratae Ventures, Epiq Capital, Innoven Capital, Kalaari Capital, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Piramal Group’s Anand Piramal, Pratithi Investment Trust, Ratan Tata (India); and Unilever Ventures (Unilever’s global venture capital arm)
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
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Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cylinder petrol
Power: 154bhp
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How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
ICC men's cricketer of the year
2004 - Rahul Dravid (IND) ; 2005 - Jacques Kallis (SA) and Andrew Flintoff (ENG); 2006 - Ricky Ponting (AUS); 2007 - Ricky Ponting; 2008 - Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI); 2009 - Mitchell Johnson (AUS); 2010 - Sachin Tendulkar (IND); 2011 - Jonathan Trott (ENG); 2012 - Kumar Sangakkara (SL); 2013 - Michael Clarke (AUS); 2014 - Mitchell Johnson; 2015 - Steve Smith (AUS); 2016 - Ravichandran Ashwin (IND); 2017 - Virat Kohli (IND); 2018 - Virat Kohli; 2019 - Ben Stokes (ENG); 2021 - Shaheen Afridi
In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
- Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000
- Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000
- Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000
- Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000
- HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000
- Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000
- Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000
- Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000
- Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000
- Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000
- Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000
- Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
- Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
- Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
ARSENAL IN 1977
Feb 05 Arsenal 0-0 Sunderland
Feb 12 Manchester City 1-0 Arsenal
Feb 15 Middlesbrough 3-0 Arsenal
Feb 19 Arsenal 2-3 West Ham
Feb 26 Middlesbrough 4-1 Arsenal (FA Cup)
Mar 01 Everton 2-1 Arsenal
Mar 05 Arsenal 1-4 ipswich
March 08 Arsenal 1-2 West Brom
Mar 12 QPR 2-1 Arsenal
Mar 23 Stoke 1-1 Arsenal
Apr 02 Arsenal 3-0 Leicester
RESULTS
Men
1 Marius Kipserem (KEN) 2:04:04
2 Abraham Kiptum (KEN) 2:04:16
3 Dejene Debela Gonfra (ETH) 2:07:06
4 Thomas Rono (KEN) 2:07:12
5 Stanley Biwott (KEN) 2:09:18
Women
1 Ababel Yeshaneh (ETH) 2:20:16
2 Eunice Chumba (BRN) 2:20:54
3 Gelete Burka (ETH) 2:24:07
4 Chaltu Tafa (ETH) 2:25:09
5 Caroline Kilel (KEN) 2:29:14
RESULT
Shabab Al Ahli Dubai 0 Al Ain 6
Al Ain: Caio (5', 73'), El Shahat (10'), Berg (65'), Khalil (83'), Al Ahbabi (90' 2)
More coverage from the Future Forum
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
The five pillars of Islam
Key figures in the life of the fort
Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa (ruled 1761-1793) Built Qasr Al Hosn as a watchtower to guard over the only freshwater well on Abu Dhabi island.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Dhiyab (ruled 1793-1816) Expanded the tower into a small fort and transferred his ruling place of residence from Liwa Oasis to the fort on the island.
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Shakhbut (ruled 1818-1833) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further as Abu Dhabi grew from a small village of palm huts to a town of more than 5,000 inhabitants.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Shakhbut (ruled 1833-1845) Repaired and fortified the fort.
Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon (ruled 1845-1855) Turned Qasr Al Hosn into a strong two-storied structure.
Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa (ruled 1855-1909) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further to reflect the emirate's increasing prominence.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan (ruled 1928-1966) Renovated and enlarged Qasr Al Hosn, adding a decorative arch and two new villas.
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan (ruled 1966-2004) Moved the royal residence to Al Manhal palace and kept his diwan at Qasr Al Hosn.
Sources: Jayanti Maitra, www.adach.ae
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AT4 Ultimate, as tested
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