UAE’s leading cricket academies to contest in Sharjah’s Cricket Council’s Academies Premier League

 By K.R. Nayar

Academies Premier League, which is set to commence from the first week of March, will give budding cricketers from all the leading academies in the UAE to play at the historic Sharjah Cricket Stadium wicket on which great legends have produced top performances.  Twenty-eight teams in all will contest in the Under-16 and Under-19 categories

Waleed Bukhatir, vice chairman Sharjah Cricket Stadium addresses the gathering during the draw 

Starting March first week, budding cricketers training at the various cricket academies in the UAE will be playing in a high-profile tournament at the historic Sharjah Cricket Stadium.  Sharjah Cricket Council will be staging this grand cricket tournament called the Academies Premier League (APL) for all the top cricket academies in the UAE at this venue which has hosted the maximum number of One Day Internationals in world cricket.

Cricketers under the age of 16 and 19 will be playing on the same wicket on which greats of the game like Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Sanath Jayasuriya, and Javed Miandad played breath-taking knocks, all of which are talked about with great fervor by cricket fans around the world even today.  It is also the ground where some of the matches of the Indian Premier League were held recently. Sharjah Cricket Stadium is also the venue that staged the first editions of the Pakistan Super League and the Afghanistan Premier League and launched the T10 format tournament.

Mazhar Khan, General Manager Sharjah Cricket announces the tournament 

A total of 28 cricket academy teams will be contesting in this tournament that has been divided into two categories based on the age groups of Under-16 and Under-19. The colourful draw function was held at the venue on Thursday, February 25, in the presence of Waleed Bukhatir, vice chairman of Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Khalaf Bukhatir, CEO of Sharjah Cricket Stadium, and Mazhar Khan, General Manager Sharjah Cricket.

Speaking to krbuzz.blogspot.com, Mazhar Khan said: “The very purpose of staging this tournament at the Sharjah Stadium is to inspire all budding youngsters by giving them an opportunity to play on the grounds where legends of the game played some great matches.”
Addressing the draw ceremony gathering attended by representatives of all the cricket academies, Khan said: “There are a number of cricket academies in the UAE working hard to groom cricketers, and we decided that a tournament to showcase the skills in these boys would be an apt one. This tournament is likely to bring to the fore many talented cricketers, and that will be helpful for the UAE that is aiming to qualify for the Under-19 World Cup later this year. Most cricket academies are very active here and five of them are actually participating in the ongoing Bukhatir League.”


Unveiling of the Academies Premier League trophy 

Expressing his views on the league, Waleed Bukhatir said: “This tournament will help parents watch the fruits of all the hard work their children have been putting in to become good cricketers. I am happy that the vision of my father (Abdul Rehman Bukhatir) who brought international cricket into UAE and helped popularize the game in this country is showing its results. It is a very good sign that we have so many cricket academies focusing on grooming future players.”  Khalaf Bukhatir revealed that plans are now on to stage an Under-13 tournament to spot talent from a very young age.

Khalaf Bukhatir, CEO Sharjah Cricket Stadium

The Sharjah Cricket App was also launched during the draw. This app will have features like live scores from every match, analysis of select players, and other statistics.


Sharjah Cricket App launch

Smartcricket.com, the technology partners for this tournament, also gave a demonstration of  BatSense, a bat sensor device that has the power to provide a wide range of data for every shot played. It promises to showcase data about the bat speed, back lift angle, follow-through angle, and bat speed at impact for the players to improve their game.

This tournament has Kragbuzz as Apparel partners and Al Sanuber Sign as the branding partner.

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