England all-rounder Dougie Brown named UAE coach

Earlier today, the Emirates Cricket Board confirmed the signing of former England and Scotland all-rounder, Dougie Brown as the head coach of the UAE team. The 47-year-old will begin his stint with the team full-time on June 1. His first major assignment will be three 50-over matches in UAE’s tour of the Netherlands in mid-July. Brown had worked with UAE earlier this year for a three-month spell as the interim coach.

UAE had been without a full-time coach since former Pakistan pacer Aaqib Javed resigned from the post in April 2016. Brown has played 25 ODIs and two T20Is in an international career spanning a decade from 1997 to 2007. The veteran all-rounder had also previously overseen Netherlands, during the Desert T20 tournament in the UAE in January. Prior to that, he had worked as English county Warwickshire’s director of cricket, and the club won the domestic one-day cup during his time in charge.

It’s an honour

Speaking about his selection to Espncricinfo, Brown said, “It is a huge honor to be appointed head coach of the UAE national team. I really look forward to the exciting challenges that lie ahead as we look to build on the recent success the team has achieved,”

“We have had an outstanding three months and I continue to be impressed with both individual and team performances. I relish the opportunity to further develop the team culture and reinforce our style of play,” Brown said.

Also, woeful results in the World Cricket League could imply UAE will be on the brink of missing out and failing to play the Qualifiers for the World Cup 2019. They are in danger of getting relegated to Division Two, the third tier of international cricket and potentially get lost in the ether. Thus, the board’s decision to recruit Dougie Brown full-time to head the team was much-needed to save UAE getting extinct from the face of world cricket.