The cricketing landscape of the UAE is very different to the one David East left behind in the UK. The new chief of the Emirates Cricket Board admits that is something he is still getting to grips with two months after his move to the Middle East.
However the former Essex wicketkeeper batsmen turned CEO has already identified the means with which he can achieve his lofty ambitions to bring ODI and eventually Test status to the country.
East is working closely with UAE coach Aaqib Javed to improve the high-performance programmes in the Emirates and believes central contracts hold the key to future prosperity.
“I think one of the real challenges we need to overcome is that obviously our players are amateur, they have other jobs which they have to hold down,” the man who signed England captain Alastair Cook’s first academy contract at Essex tells Sport360°.
“We’re fortunate that in the main their employers are extremely supportive in terms of their representation of the UAE.
“In order to take that to the next stage, just as every other associate member country is looking at, we need to try and find some mechanism by way of centrally contracting these players so they can commit themselves fully to their cricket, to their training and their training programmes.
“So that’s going to be one of the problems that we need to address.”
The benefits of centrally contracting players are there for all to see, as the cream of the UAE’s talent would be able to devote their time exclusively to the sport, just as many of the players they face in the World Cricket League and Intercontinental Cup do.
“I genuinely believe that in order for us to be successful and to raise our game the coach needs to have more control over the players and needs to be able to direct them the way he wants on a regular basis,” East adds. “You can only really achieve that through a form of central contracting.
“There are various different models, and we’re currently exploring how that might work.
“In an ideal world you might have your key eight or 10 players under your control all the time.”
In a country where there is not a nationwide competition and regional cricket boards still hold sway, East’s claim might appear to be a bold one. But he insists the ECB are “very conscious” of the fragmented nature of the sport in the Emirates and had already put plans in place to improve the national structure before he arrived in January.
Another stumbling block would be the cost of paying the players and East admits the board “need to find streams from which we can generate income so those sorts of desirable things become affordable.”
One such revenue stream could come from the continued hosting of Pakistan, who have called the UAE home since the 2009 terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore.
East adds: “The crowds have been very good and obviously that brings with it income. So it would be wrong to say that’s not important but it’s the profile we have in terms of staging international cricket that comes with those series.”
Pakistan’s series defeat of England last January attracted modest crowds in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, but East believes there is a “big opportunity to re-engage with western expats” living in the country who want to play cricket but simply don’t know where or how to do so.
Pakistan hosting another series this winter could go some way to awakening this latent interest in the game, as should the current Champion County game which is in its fourth year in Abu Dhabi.
For East, the four-day match which this year sees Warwickshire taking on the MCC and got underway yesterday, is a chance to strengthen ties with the MCC, who also sponsor an academy at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium.
“We’re working very closely with the MCC, they’re here at the moment, we have the Champion County game against Warwickshire and we’re very hopeful that arrangement will be able to continue well into the future,” East, who is also head of ADCC, says.
“So it’s a great club to be associated with, the MCC, for all sorts of reasons and they have been very supportive in terms of the things we’re trying to achieve.”
Another stated aim of East’s administration is the realisation of predecessor Dilawar Mani’s dream to see an all-Emirati UAE side take to the field. There were no locals in Javed’s side that lost back-to-back World Cricket League games and an Intercontinental Cup match against Ireland in Sharjah earlier this month.
But East says: “There are all sorts of different initiatives which are working successfully around the world and with the right focus hopefully would attract Emirati involvement but also broaden the expat engagement as well.”
FACTFILE:
Born: July 27, 1959
County: Essex
Position: Wicketkeeper
FIRST-CLASS RECORD:
Matches: 190
Innings: 254
Not out: 32
Runs: 4,553
Highest score: 134
Catches: 480
Stumpings: 53
EAST ON…
Alastair Cook
“It’s fantastic to see him develop in the way that he has. We always knew he was going to be a very, very fine cricketer. Everyone expected him to do very welland rise to the top but it’s just the way that he has worked his own game out and has the command and respect of the rest of his team members that makes him an excellent captain.”
Graham Gooch
“Day-in day-out Graham Gooch was quite exceptional in the way that he was able to not only perform for England but in those days Test cricketers came back and played for their counties and Graham was still able to perform at the county level in the same way he did in international cricket.”
Malcolm Marshall
“In county cricket he was just astonishing even though he put in an amazing amount of effort for Hampshire. Consistently he was the best overseas bowler in county cricket. Sylvester Clarke playing for Surret was probably the most unsettling, in terms of the way he bowled, he was very aggressive.
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