The Bahrain Cricket Association organised the Four Nations Cricket
Tournament recently in lieu of the local Eid and National Day holidays from
Dec 16 till 23. The Four Nations Trophy was sponsored by Power Horse Energy
Drink and the matches were played over the five day holiday period, lasting 40 overs per side. All matches were conducted at the Riffa Cricket grounds starting from 8.30 am in the morning.
The tournament comprised of the the select best league players representing
India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Rest of the World. The latter consisted of
local nationalised Bahraini players, Englishmen and Australian who combined
for the Rest of the World team.
Since there is a dominance of Pakistani players, two teams, Green and White
were formed for Pakistan. The strength of these teams was evident as both
Pak-Green and Pak-White emerged with three victories each in the round robin
format. However, the finals were delayed due to some umpiring controversies between the two teams.
In the end, Pak-Green consented to play a week later and amassed 304 for 5
off their 40 overs. This total was built around three fast paced fifties by
Sajjad (57), all rounder Qamar Saqeed (53) and Mohamed Iqbal (51).
Shehzad Butt was the pick of the bowler for Pak-White with 3-63. In reply
Pak-White could only muster 204-8 in 32 overs, still needing around 101 runs
off eight overs before bad light intervened. In the end Pak White conceded
the match to the former. For Pak White, opener Rizwhan Tahir played a lone
hand in hitting 73 runs.
Earlier, India and Sri Lanka, both who had scored victories over the Rest of
the World team, battled for third place honours. India, batting first, put
up a fighting 259 for 9 wickets in 40 overs. The top scorers were Naveed
Sheikh with 73 and Prashant Shettigar with 39. In response, Sri Lanka were
never in the fight losing wickets at regular intervals with only number nine
batsman Asanga Peiris scoring 44. The Lankans were all out for 196 in the
34th over, losing by 66 runs. Nitin Menon chipped in with 3-43 off 5 overs.
Th best batsman award went to Mohammed Yaqoob while the Best Bowler award
went to Qamar Saeed, both of Pak-Green. The best fielder award was shared by
Ashwini Sharma of India and Asanka Peiris of Sri Lanka.
Sixes tournament
Next month, February, sees a Sixes tournament being sponsored and supported
the Rotary Club of Adliya for all the Senior League Divisions. These include
the best teams from Hempels league, Island Cricket League and the BCA.
The tournament will be played on the lines of the Hong Kong sixes tournament
organised by the Bahrain Cricket Association. The tournament will be played
around February 24 during the Eid Al Adha holidays. However, there will be
prilimnary round matches to select the best teams who will represent their
individual leagues in the championship.
International cricket in the Gulf
The Gulf countries finally will see for the first time an International Test
match being played in February when the Sharjah cricket stadium hosts the
West Indies and Pakistan to a two test match series.
This is the third time two teams are playing a Test at a neutral venue.
Sharjah has hosted around 181 One Day Internationals, a record but this is
the first time they are hosting a Test match.
The First Test is due to start tentatively around 31 Jan till Feb 4 while
the second Test will be played from Feb 7 to 11 followed by three One Day
Matches between the two countries.
The above series is a big high for the Emirates Cricket Board.
© ICC 2002