Desert T20 to start from January 14 in the UAE

Published - 29 Dec 2016, 12:35 IST | Updated - 29 Dec 2016, 12:35 IST

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Eight of the top Associates in Cricket collaborate to bring the inaugural Desert T20 tournament to the United Arab Emirates. To be played in the United Arab Emirates during January 2017, the 7-day tournament will commence play on Saturday January 14th at Abu Dhabi Cricket Club’s Zayed Cricket Stadium, and will continue daily through to January 17th before relocating to Dubai Sports City’s International Cricket Stadium for the final 2-days of match play, culminating in the finals on Friday January 20th.

Associate countries participating include Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Ireland, Namibia, Netherlands, Oman, Scotland, and the UAE. “Emirates Cricket Board are delighted to collaborate with the participating Associates to bring this inaugural T20 tournament to the UAE. The aim of the tournament is to provide an opportunity for our teams to play more competitive Men’s T20 cricket.” said Zayed Abbas, Emirates Cricket Board Member. “Each of the participating countries are very close in ICC T20I rankings, so we expect the quality of cricket to be very strong”.

Drawn into Pool A are Afghanistan (9), Ireland (17), Namibia (NR), and the UAE (14). While in Pool B contains The Netherlands (11), Scotland (13), Oman (16) and Hong Kong (15).

“With the world class practice facilities and playing surfaces available to us in the UAE, we are confident each Associate will benefit greatly from this tournament. We extend our sincere thanks to the participating Unions, the ICC and the ICC Academy for their support and commitment to this tournament.” added Abbas.

Saturday’s opening matches, in Abu Dhabi, will be Scotland v Hong Kong at 2pm followed by Afghanistan v Ireland at 7pm. All subsequent day’s will start at 2pm, for match 1, followed by match 2 at 7pm.

Full match schedule:

14th Jan – Abu Dhabi Cricket Club’s Zayed Cricket Stadium

2pm Scotland (13) v Hong Kong (17) B2 V B4

7pm Afghanistan (9) v Ireland (15) A1 V A3

15th Jan – Abu Dhabi Cricket Club’s Zayed Cricket Stadium

2pm Netherlands (11) v Oman (16) B1 V B3

7pm UAE (14) v Namibia (NR) A2 V A4

16th Jan – Abu Dhabi Cricket Club’s Zayed Cricket Stadium

2pm Oman (16) v Hong Kong (17) B3 V B4

7pm Afghanistan (9) v UAE (14) A1 V A2

17th Jan – Abu Dhabi Cricket Club’s Zayed Cricket Stadium

2pm Ireland (15) v Namibia (NR) A3 V A4