Preparations for the inaugural Gulf Cup hot up (5 Dec 1999)

5 December 1999

Preparations for the inaugural Gulf Cup hot up

The status of next month's Gulf Cup has been raised with news that the six competing teams will have to meet ICC qualification rules

While the competition organisers had previously intimated in the last edition of `Cricket Beyond The Test World' that officials of the Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates would be able to choose from their domestic leagues, the tournament administrator, Mr. Hatyar Khan, said all players would have to meet the usual International Cricket Council qualification rules.

"Five players must be nationals of that country," Mr. Khan warned, while adding that other players will have had to serve a minimum residential period.

Dates for the tournament have been confirmed, with the inaugural meeting of Persian Gulf national teams to be held in Dubai from January 23-29.

In several ways, the staging of this tournament represents yet another major step in the ongoing `formalisation' of cricket at the non-Test level by the ICC.

Only the United Arab Emirates has competed internationally before, while Bahrain. Oman and Saudi Arabia are not members of the ICC.

More importantly it changes the focus of the cricket administration in the Gulf. In the past, officials there had been happy just to run their competitions as expatriate pasttimes for the local South Asian immigrant population with little concern for a broader organisational structure.

The imposition of ICC qualification rules `may' help create a desire among Persian Gulf cricket officials to bring the game to the Arab population.

`Cricket Beyond The Test World' will bring you news every fortnight of the build-up to the Gulf Cup.