For a player of world renown, keeping himself busy between one major franchise tournament and the next, this felt like the most unlikely venue.
The village of Batayeh, halfway between Sharjah and Al Dhaid, is a quiet one, comprising not a great deal more than a couple of roundabouts, an abattoir and a co-op.
Unexpectedly, it also just to so happens to possess two high-spec, floodlit cricket ovals, which are a match for any of those which prevail elsewhere in a country well blessed with many such facilities.
When the grounds in Ajman were temporarily closed recently due to reasons related to Covid, it meant amateur cricketers had to look elsewhere for new premises. Batayeh was just the ticket.
And so it happened that this week, a side who started the game with nine players as two others were held up in work, and without a full set of matching kit, found themselves playing against an international superstar.
It was understandable the batsmen of Vision Shipping found the going tough against Imran Tahir. He does, after all have nearly 300 wickets in international cricket.
He is currently whiling away his time in the UAE before jetting to Chennai ahead of the IPL.
The postponement of the PSL because of the coronavirus meant he has had some extra time on his hands, so to stay match fit he has been turning out for InterGlobe Marine in UAE domestic cricket.
“It wasn’t a plan,” Tahir said of his extended spell living in the UAE. “I had to come to Dubai to travel to Australia for the Big Bash, then I had to come back to Dubai again to go to PSL. With the sad situation we are living in with Covid-19, I had to be stable in one place.
“Unfortunately, South Africa was under lockdown. I had to put my family somewhere. This was the right place as it was central, and I can travel around.
“I left them here and went to PSL. I came back, have played a little bit of club cricket for IGM, and it has been great.
“It is tough cricket here, a really good standard of cricket, and I wasn’t expecting that to be honest.”
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Tahir in action for InterGlobe Marine
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Tahir’s recruitment happened after a chance meeting when he went for a solo training session.
“We hadn’t met before, we didn’t know each other,” Tahir said of being befriended by one of his new teammates.
“I went for practice one day after getting a reference from someone. He offered me to play for the team.
“For me, that was a very good thing because I wasn’t aware of anything in UAE, in terms of who I could play for or anything like that.
“I ended up meeting the team at the first game, and really enjoyed it. I decided that before I went to any other competition this would be good practice for me.
"It is a good standard of cricket and it is going to help me going forward in the PSL and IPL.”
The name of his new team rolls easily off Tahir’s tongue. Which is achievement enough, given he has lost count of how many sides he has played for during his globetrotting career.
“It is a tricky one, and I’m often asked that,” the South Africa leg-spinner said.
“It is over 30, I think, but I can’t remember as there are too many. But I don’t think about it. It is nice that I have played for so many teams. That shows that wherever I have gone, I have tried my best.
“The good thing is that, if I had to go back to the same teams, I think they will have me. I have enjoyed my time wherever I went, I have made friends with people from different cultures wherever I went to play.
“That’s why I am here now. I respect everyone, I respect our team, and I want to win every game for my team.”
'A silent slap on the face'
That respect is voraciously reciprocated. According to Asim Shaikh, one of his IGM teammates, playing with someone as infectiously upbeat as Tahir is making them better people.
“We were packing to leave, then all of a sudden he put his bag down and went and picked up all our trash.
“There was another match following us, and he said: ‘I don’t want them to come to the ground and see there is trash, or put another burden onto the groundstaff. If you’re at home, you wouldn’t leave stuff out like that, you’d use the bin.’
“After that day, we have all changed our attitude and never left anything out. It has improved our characters.
"It was embarrassing for us, a silent slap on the face. I’ll always remember that moment about Imran Tahir.”
At the end of this month, Tahir will head to Chennai, and then on to Mumbai for the Super Kings’ IPL campaign.
He will turn 42 before the tournament starts, but he has no plans to slow down.
“I really wish that [he never has to retire], and I do think like that, but for that I do work really hard,” Tahir said.
“I keep myself fit. I need to eat well. I have been doing that for the last few years, especially being in the South African culture. In the Proteas culture, we are really loyal to what we say.
“When we are in the team, we train with loyalty. We respect each other, we respect each other’s cultures.
“It is something that motivates me to be where I want to be. I don’t ever want to finish cricket, but it is going to come to that point. At the moment, I am really enjoying my cricket.
“I was thinking I would only play this T20 World Cup which is ahead of me, but there are now three in a row. If I am performing, then why not [carry on playing]?
“I want to play all of them, but like I said, it is not in my hands. For that, I need to work hard, keep up with my fitness and perform in all the leagues I am going to play.”
Jewel of the Expo 2020
252 projectors installed on Al Wasl dome
13.6km of steel used in the structure that makes it equal in length to 16 Burj Khalifas
550 tonnes of moulded steel were raised last year to cap the dome
724,000 cubic metres is the space it encloses
Stands taller than the leaning tower of Pisa
Steel trellis dome is one of the largest single structures on site
The size of 16 tennis courts and weighs as much as 500 elephants
Al Wasl means connection in Arabic
World’s largest 360-degree projection surface
On the menu
First course
▶ Emirati sea bass tartare Yuzu and labneh mayo, avocado, green herbs, fermented tomato water
▶ The Tale of the Oyster Oyster tartare, Bahraini gum berry pickle
Second course
▶ Local mackerel Sourdough crouton, baharat oil, red radish, zaatar mayo
▶ One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Quail, smoked freekeh, cinnamon cocoa
Third course
▶ Bahraini bouillabaisse Venus clams, local prawns, fishfarm seabream, farro
▶ Lamb 2 ways Braised lamb, crispy lamb chop, bulgur, physalis
Dessert
▶ Lumi Black lemon ice cream, pistachio, pomegranate
▶ Black chocolate bar Dark chocolate, dates, caramel, camel milk ice cream
THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
CHATGPT%20ENTERPRISE%20FEATURES
%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Enterprise-grade%20security%20and%20privacy%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Unlimited%20higher-speed%20GPT-4%20access%20with%20no%20caps%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Longer%20context%20windows%20for%20processing%20longer%20inputs%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Advanced%20data%20analysis%20capabilities%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Customisation%20options%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Shareable%20chat%20templates%20that%20companies%20can%20use%20to%20collaborate%20and%20build%20common%20workflows%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Analytics%20dashboard%20for%20usage%20insights%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Free%20credits%20to%20use%20OpenAI%20APIs%20to%20extend%20OpenAI%20into%20a%20fully-custom%20solution%20for%20enterprises%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
Visit Abu Dhabi culinary team's top Emirati restaurants in Abu Dhabi
Yadoo’s House Restaurant & Cafe
For the karak and Yoodo's house platter with includes eggs, balaleet, khamir and chebab bread.
Golden Dallah
For the cappuccino, luqaimat and aseeda.
Al Mrzab Restaurant
For the shrimp murabian and Kuwaiti options including Kuwaiti machboos with kebab and spicy sauce.
Al Derwaza
For the fish hubul, regag bread, biryani and special seafood soup.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Read more from Mina Al-Oraibi
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
BRIEF SCORES
England 228-7, 50 overs
N Sciver 51; J Goswami 3-23
India 219, 48.4 overs
P Raut 86, H Kaur 51; A Shrubsole 6-46
England won by nine runs
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
How to get there
Emirates (www.emirates.com) flies directly to Hanoi, Vietnam, with fares starting from around Dh2,725 return, while Etihad (www.etihad.com) fares cost about Dh2,213 return with a stop. Chuong is 25 kilometres south of Hanoi.
Brolliology: A History of the Umbrella in Life and Literature
By Marion Rankine
Melville House
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Family reunited
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was born and raised in Tehran and studied English literature before working as a translator in the relief effort for the Japanese International Co-operation Agency in 2003.
She moved to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies before moving to the World Health Organisation as a communications officer.
She came to the UK in 2007 after securing a scholarship at London Metropolitan University to study a master's in communication management and met her future husband through mutual friends a month later.
The couple were married in August 2009 in Winchester and their daughter was born in June 2014.
She was held in her native country a year later.
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
RESULTS
6.30pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-1 Group 1 (PA) Dh119,373 (Dirt) 1,600m
Winner: Brraq, Adrie de Vries (jockey), Jean-Claude Pecout (trainer)
7.05pm: Handicap (TB) Dh102,500 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Taamol, Connor Beasley, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
7.40pm: Handicap (TB) Dh105,000 (Turf) 1,800m
Winner: Eqtiraan, Connor Beasley, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
8.15pm: UAE 1000 Guineas Trial (TB) Dh183,650 (D) 1,400m
Winner: Soft Whisper, Pat Cosgrave, Saeed bin Suroor.
9.50pm: Handicap (TB) Dh105,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Hypothetical, Mickael Barzalona, Salem bin Ghadayer.
9.25pm: Handicap (TB) Dh95,000 (T) 1,000m
Winner: Etisalat, Sando Paiva, Ali Rashid Al Raihe
ACL Elite (West) - fixtures
Monday, Sept 30
Al Sadd v Esteghlal (8pm)
Persepolis v Pakhtakor (8pm)
Al Wasl v Al Ahli (8pm)
Al Nassr v Al Rayyan (10pm)
Tuesday, Oct 1
Al Hilal v Al Shorta (10pm)
Al Gharafa v Al Ain (10pm)
