The teacher, students, and university graduate selected from UAE to play in the FairBreak Invitational next month might be forgiven for feeling a sense of trepidation when the great and good of women’s cricket start arriving in Dubai.
The national team have yet to play a game on the world stage. So the four players might be somewhat starry-eyed when the likes of Sophie Devine, Stafanie Taylor and Mignon du Preez are in their midst at the new T20 franchise competition.
And yet one of the local representatives at the event, to be staged at Dubai International Stadium from May 4, has one achievement to her name that none of the global stars can match.
When Esha Oza smashed 158 not out in a T20 international against Bahrain last month, it was the highest score ever in a limited-overs international by a UAE cricketer – male or female.
Only one player – who was, coincidentally, in the opposition that day – has managed more in a women’s T20I innings.
And the next player on the list of highest T20I scores by female players? Alyssa Healy, the celebrated Australian.
Not bad for a 23-year-old opener who is currently fully devoted to cricket, while looking for a full-time job after graduating with a business management degree from University of Wollongong Dubai.
“Before the last ball I got to know about the record because everyone was shouting from outside the field that I needed four runs to beat the record,” Oza said about her record-breaking innings in the GCC T20 in Muscat in March.
“Before that I had no idea and it had not been playing on my mind. On the last ball, I stepped out. It had been going for a wide but because I stepped out, I left the ball as I thought I would get the wide. It wasn’t given as a wide.
“I had the chance to break the record, but it was still my favourite day in cricket so far.
“You always dream of scoring a hundred for your country. I made my first hundred, and went on to get 150, too, so it was a dream come true.”
It goes to show the savviness of those recruiting for the FairBreak event that Oza was signed for their new competition well before her record-breaking effort against Bahrain.
It is set to involve 90 players from 36 countries. Forty of the players are from full Test-playing nations, with the rest coming from destinations as diverse as Bhutan, Vanuatu, Germany, as well as Oza, Chaya Mughal, Kavisha Kumari and Theertha Satish from the UAE.
Oza was contracted back in November. She is looking forward to playing against Devine, the New Zealand batter whose style she aims to imitate.
“I love the way she plays and the way she hits the ball,” Oza said of Devine.
“I like to go out there and enjoy my batting, and I think that is what she does. She is a fearless cricketer. She goes there, watches the ball and hits the ball, and that’s what I like to do.
“It is the first time we are going to get to play against the international stars from Australia, England and all the big teams.
“I am excited rather than nervous. I have played against a few of the players before when I was part of the ICC development squad and we played against the [English] Kia Super League sides.
“I really enjoyed that back then and I think it is going to be a really good experience this time.”
Oza’s rise in the sport has been rapid since she first started out aged 14 at Desert Cubs, the prolific Dubai-based cricket academy.
“The first day I went there, there were only boys training there,” she said.
“At first they said, ‘There are no girls, so you can think about it again – or you can train with the boys, we are OK with that.’
“That is when I started, training with boys. I used to play football before starting cricket, and always played football with boys. I liked the competition.
“That is why I had no problems with it. I never thought, ‘oh, there are no girls, how will I play?’ I always enjoyed playing more with the boys.”
Oza, Kumari, Mughal and Satish will all be in action for the national team first, in four T20 internationals against Hong Kong in Ajman starting on Wednesday.
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The specs
Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
RESULT
Manchester United 2 Burnley 2
Man United: Lingard (53', 90' 1)
Burnley: Barnes (3'), Defour (36')
Man of the Match: Jesse Lingard (Manchester United)
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
FIXTURES
Monday, January 28
Iran v Japan, Hazza bin Zayed Stadium (6pm)
Tuesday, January 29
UAEv Qatar, Mohamed Bin Zayed Stadium (6pm)
Friday, February 1
Final, Zayed Sports City Stadium (6pm)
Civil%20War
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THE LOWDOWN
Romeo Akbar Walter
Rating: 2/5 stars
Produced by: Dharma Productions, Azure Entertainment
Directed by: Robby Grewal
Cast: John Abraham, Mouni Roy, Jackie Shroff and Sikandar Kher
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Oscars in the UAE
The 90th Academy Awards will be aired in the UAE from 3.30am on Monday, March 5 on OSN, with the ceremony starting at 5am
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Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
UAE squad
Ali Kashief, Salem Rashid, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Khalfan Mubarak, Ali Mabkhout, Omar Abdelrahman, Mohammed Al Attas (Al Jazira), Mohmmed Al Shamsi, Hamdan Al Kamali, Mohammad Barghash, Khalil Al Hammadi (Al Wahda), Khalid Eisa, Mohammed Shakir, Ahmed Barman, Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Adel Al Hosani, Al Hassan Saleh, Majid Suroor (Sharjah), Waleed Abbas, Ismail Al Hammadi, Ahmed Khalil (Shabab Al Ahli Dubai) Habib Fardan, Tariq Ahmed, Mohammed Al Akbari (Al Nasr), Ali Saleh, Ali Salmeen (Al Wasl), Hassan Al Mahrami (Baniyas)
Know your cyber adversaries
Cryptojacking: Compromises a device or network to mine cryptocurrencies without an organisation's knowledge.
Distributed denial-of-service: Floods systems, servers or networks with information, effectively blocking them.
Man-in-the-middle attack: Intercepts two-way communication to obtain information, spy on participants or alter the outcome.
Malware: Installs itself in a network when a user clicks on a compromised link or email attachment.
Phishing: Aims to secure personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.
Ransomware: Encrypts user data, denying access and demands a payment to decrypt it.
Spyware: Collects information without the user's knowledge, which is then passed on to bad actors.
Trojans: Create a backdoor into systems, which becomes a point of entry for an attack.
Viruses: Infect applications in a system and replicate themselves as they go, just like their biological counterparts.
Worms: Send copies of themselves to other users or contacts. They don't attack the system, but they overload it.
Zero-day exploit: Exploits a vulnerability in software before a fix is found.
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