A new battle follows Sharjah's demise

Today Abu Dhabi ... tomorrow Dubai?

Martin Williamson

May 2, 2006

The rise of Abu Dhabi as a venue for one-day cricket is the final nail in the coffin of the Emirates' original cricket stadium, Sharjah. But even as it staged its first major international match last month, the future of the state-of-the-art Sheikh Zayed Stadium was already uncertain.

It need only look down the road to its decaying neighbour to realise that. A decade ago Sharjah was an established fixture on the international one-day merry-go-round. From its first game in 1983-84, the stadium, which is located in the middle of the desert about half-an-hour from Dubai, hosted regular limited-overs tournaments. Its last match, the final of the Cherry Blossom Sharjah Cup in April 2003, was its 198th ODI. It had also staged four Tests in the previous 14 months when the political instability in the Pakistan region meant that sides were unhappy with touring there.

But Sharjah's demise had begun at the end of the 1990s, a victim of cricket politics and the cloud of match-fixing which hung over it and which it was never fully able to cast off, even though nothing was ever proved. These days the stadium is almost derelict, a home to chickens rather than international cricketers.

Even without the sniff of corruption, Sharjah would still probably have fallen by the wayside. In a region where money is not an obstacle, the Abu Dhabi Cricket Council had already committed to ploughing millions of dollars into building the 20,000-capacity Sheikh Zayed Stadium, with plans to make it the unrivalled home for offshore cricket.

With the backing of the powerful Indian cricket board, its future was assured. India, as much as any country, had been tainted by the match-fixing scandals, and was keen to distance itself from Sharjah but was equally keen to find a convenient neutral venue to stage lucrative one-day games. It also helped that Adu Dhabi is run by the government and not, as is that case in Sharjah, by individuals. Governments are usually more flexible and better deals can be done.

But even as it establishes itself on the cricket map, Abu Dhabi's future is also in some doubt. Back in Dubai, the new home of the ICC, vast sums of money (around $2 billion) are being sunk into building the Dubai Sports City, a sprawling complex that will be home to artificial ski slopes, a multitude of indoor and outdoor stadia, golf courses ... and a 25,000-seater cricket stadium which the ICC has been closely involved with from the off.

The ICC's new permanent home will also be in the complex, as will its Global Cricket Academy.

Whether the region, which has not got a credible cricket side, can support two grounds in such proximity is open to doubt. The demise of Sharjah shows that nothing can be taken for granted. Much will depend on what concessions the rivals are willing to offer overseas boards, most particularly the Indian one. As with so much in modern cricket, money talks.

Martin Williamson is managing editor of Cricinfo

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United Arab Emirates

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Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium

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External Links

Dubai Sports City official site