Dubai stadium ready by October

The Dubai Cricket Stadium, being built at the Dubai Sports City, will be ready by October 2008 according to a report in the Gulf News.

ICC officials, including Malcolm Speed, the CEO, and Ray Mali, the president, visited the construction sites at the stadium and the ICC Global Cricket academy. "It's a great improvement on what I saw during my last visit in September," Mali said. "I am sure this world class stadium and the state-of the-art academy will be completed on time."

David Morgan, who will succeed Mali in June, was equally pleased. "Even at this stage of construction, it is very clear that it will be a significant stadium which will have its own charm."

"It will be truly a world class stadium," Speed said. "The ICC will certainly encourage teams to play here as often as possible. When I saw this site the first time it was a camel farm and now we have a world-class cricket stadium come out of the ground. The ICC will certainly encourage teams to play here as often as possible."

Mali added the development would boost to cricket in the UAE. "It will surely stimulate cricket in the UAE and will make the children get interested in the game. The academy will not only help the elite players from different parts of the world but it will also help the developing players from the associate and affiliate countries."