By Saj
May 23 2004

What a superb 3 weeks I had in UAE, watching some of the best cricketing action that Sharjah has ever seen, as well as enjoying the beautiful cities of Sharjah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Catterick is a small village in North Yorkshire, known for its army garrison and this is where this article begins.

1991 was the year when my father, who did a lot of work for the Muslim community in Darlington and the surrounding areas, received a telephone call from one of the Army sergeants at Catterick who stated that a group of men from the United Arab Emirates were in Catterick on a training course and wanted to know where the local mosque was.

My father in the next day or two then met up with all the group of men from the UAE and took them to the mosque, informed them of where they could buy halal meat etc etc. Over the coming months all of the men became very good family friends and proved to be a very honest and appreciative bunch of men. Obviously in an alien country, with many of them travelling overseas for the first time, they were overjoyed that they had found members of the local Islamic community. They referred to my father as their brother and my mother as their sister.

As is the way, out of the large group, one or two of the group became extremely close to our family and as a gesture of their appreciation they gave us details of their addresses in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah and insisted on us going out to visit them in UAE. At the mention of this my eyes lit up at the thought of going to Sharjah and watching cricket over there.

When their training course finished and they left for UAE, again they insisted on us visiting them and my father promised that one day we would.

Well as my luck would have it, in 1991 my father was in between jobs and had some free time so he suggested 3 weeks in UAE and visiting our Army friends out there. This was perfect timing as during October there was a mouthwatering tournament planned by the CBFS. I needed no second invitation and before I could say Abdul Rahman Bukhatir, the tickets were booked and we were counting the hours to watching the one day triangular series between India, Pakistan and West Indies.

Before we left for Dubai, my father got in touch with Mushtaq Ahmed and Ijaz Ahmed and advised them that we were on our way to watch them in Sharjah. Both said inshallah we will meet you there. I was sceptical as to whether they would remember who we were, never mind meeting us in Sharjah.

Well the airport at Dubai was an eye opener for starters and the cleanliness around the place was just plain amazing. We were stopping in a small suburb of Dubai right in between Dubai and Sharjah. The first thing I asked Atiq (Army sergeant who visited Catterick) was, how far is the cricket stadium from your house. He laughed and said it is only 15 minutes away and do not worry one of my drivers will drop you off at the ground and pick you up after each match. That was just music to my ears.

I could write a book on that tournament and the quality of the cricket played during that series. Players of the calibre of Javed Miandad, Imran Khan, Salim Malik, Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram, Richie Richardson, Carl Hooper, Curtly Ambrose, Ian Bishop, Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammed Azharrudin, Kapil Dev, etc etc were on full view.

We bought tickets for all the matches including the final and it proved to be an amazing series. Pakistan started disastrously with defeats in both their opening matches against Windies and India and it was not looking good for Imran Khans boys.

After one of the matches between India and West Indies was complete we ventured to the nets to watch our heroes in action and to see how preparation was going for the final 2 group matches which Pakistan had to win. I recall the scene as if it was yesterday, Imran Khan sat in the middle of a circle of all the players, talking to them all, looking at them all in the eye, watching them closely to see just which players were hungry for success. Senior players like Malik and Miandad listening to every word Imran had to say. My father and I were that close to the squad and with the security being so relaxed that we almost felt part of the team talk. When the meeting had finished we started talking to Ijaz and Mushtaq who were pleased to see their friends from Darlington meeting up with them in Sharjah and they introduced us to some of the other players, including Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Javed Miandad. These were moments that I would certainly cherish, how many people get the chance to meet and talk to such cricketing legends and all the cricketers were very friendly with us and were surprised that we had travelled all the way from the UK to watch the tournament. Imran had a presence about him, which made you want to listen to his every word, whilst Javed had this cheeky and cocky look about him, almost like a naughty schoolboy waiting to complete his next prank. What also struck me about this meeting was the hierarchical structure of the Pakistan team, with the younger players, the likes of Sajid Ali, Zahid Fazal etc almost running around the senior players and helping with their bags and equipment. The conversations then ended and we were invited by Ijaz and Mushtaq to the teams hotel later in the week.

I do not know whether it was that specific intense team talk that did it, but after that Pakistan were a different team, playing some wonderful cricket. However the Pakistan versus Windies 2nd match which Pakistan won by 1 run was one of the most amazing games I have ever seen. Waqar Younis clean bowled Ian Bishop in the last ball of the Windies innings and all the Pakistan fans breathed a huge sigh of relief.

The next game for Pakistan against India was also a nail biter in which Pakistan won by 4 runs and as a result of this victory set up a final against India. An India versus Pakistan final was exactly what the vast majority of fans wanted. If you ever get a chance to watch cricket in Sharjah, make sure it is an India v Pakistan match that you watch. The atmosphere is electric from ball one, a full house, noise, tension, laughter, singing, passion, the colour are all part and parcel of these great occasions.

During our stay in UAE, we made sure we did plenty of sight seeing when not watching cricket, and we visited many of the beautiful mosques in the Emirates. We watched camel racing which was interesting to say the least, we also managed to watch an under 23 football tournament involving UAE, Qatar and Pakistan. Played some golf, visited some fantastic markets, so much activity was cramped into 3 hectic weeks.

Dubai is a shoppers paradise with electrical goods at cheap prices, gold in all its glory available in many stores, perfumes of the highest quality and so much more to do when the blazing sun goes down. It also seemed to be a posers paradise with the locals favourite pastime being stopping at every mirror and adjust your headdress.

One negative thing I will however say about our trip was the way the locals treat the Indian, Pakistani, Phillipino, Sri Lankan etc communities. Most of these ex pats are earning money for their families back home by working hard and long hours, but their treatment by the locals was as if they were some commodity that they owned and could do whatever they liked with. We made many Pakistani and Indian friends whilst in UAE, people who we still keep in touch with and there was a sense of togetherness in the ex pat communities over there. On one occasion one of the local police officers when ushering the crowd out of the stadium started hitting the crowd with his baton for no apparent reason. My father approached him and told him in Queens English and in no uncertain terms that what he was doing was pathetic, he seemed rather embarrassed at his antics and mumbled a sorry before heading towards a police vehicle.

The Dubai and Sharjah hotels were simply awesome with 5 star really meaning 5 star and it was to one of these that we visited the Pak team. Fresh from a major shopping trip we were met in the hotel reception by Ijaz Ahmed, Mushtaq Ahmed and Akram Raza. Camcorders, stereos, video recorders and jewellery were the order of the day for the Pak players who seemed happy with their bargains.

We had a nice meal in the hotel with Messrs Ijaz Ahmed and Mushtaq Ahmed and towards the end of the meal we were joined by Moin Khan. In todays modern era of over zealous security and the ACU this would not of course be allowed, but back in 1991 it was no problem for the players.

The final will be remembered for Aaqib Javeds heroics and his 7 wickets including a hat trick were of course a world record at that time. The final was a bit of an anti climax for all the fans, including Javed Sheikh, Zeba, Sanjay Khan and family, Feroz Khan and family and lots of other rich and famous dignitaries from Pakistan and India, but we were happy with the result. The atmosphere and fun we had during this match will stay with me forever, despite the intense heat which must have been unbearable for the players.

Final thing to do before we left UAE was of course to get videos of this tournament which we surely did. Even to do this day when I watch those matches I can still sense the atmosphere in that stadium. It was a superb 3 weeks and my only regret is that I have been unable to go back to Sharjah and watch more matches there, especially since the floodlights have been installed. However one day I have promised myself that I will go back there and watch the Pak team in action again.