Brothers Waseem and Khalifa and their cousin Khalfan Al Balooshi, were among a handful of local talent that flocked to Al Ain last night for the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) Talent Hunt.
Under the watchful eye of out-going head coach Aaqib Javed and his staff, Waseem, Khalifa and Khalfan were given one chance – of about 15 minutes – to impress with their bowling and batting abilities.
They hope to have done enough for what could be the first step in donning the UAE colours.
“It was quite tough out there especially with so many people competing for places,” said 28-year-old fast-bowler Waseem, whose only experience of playing the game is with his friends in the park.
“Cricket is my favourite sport to play because I’ve always loved it and I watch all the games when they are on television.
“The UAE have done extremely well in the past three years and it was good to see them play in the World Cup and Asia Cup. It really would be an honour to play for them and help them reach more world tournaments.”
His younger sibling Khalifa, 19, only plays during weekends and evenings but wants to follow in the footsteps of Emiratis Mohammad Tauqir and Fahad Al Hashmi, who represented the UAE at last year’s World Cup Down Under.
“There are not many Emiratis in the national team but Tauqir and Al Hashmi have shown that locals can play. They certainly inspired me and I felt really proud to see them do well in the Asia Cup. I know a lot of hard work is needed because only the best play for the national team.”
Khalfan, 23, added: “I hope to play for my country just like my two favourite players – Virat Kohli and Chris Gayle. They are my heroes. To play for the UAE, I hope I can be a hero and inspire more Emiratis to play cricket.”
