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An 18-member cricket team, led by veteran Mohammad Tahir Dar, is aiming to fly the Bahrain flag in Thailand next month during the ACC (Asian Cricket Council) Trophy Challenge 2012 in Chiang Mai.
The squad, which includes seven Bahrainis – four of them reserves, is a blend of youth and experience and is getting ready for the December 5-13 challenge with a coaching camp at the Al Najma Club grounds under the watchful eye of national coach Amir Waseem.
Apart from the three 1st team Bahrainis, there are two Indians and nine Pakistanis in the line-up. Six members of this team have represented Bahrain in the past and three others have played for the kingdom at Under-19 level.
The selection committee was headed by Bahrain’s Under-19 coach Rexie Arulvasagam and included Vijay Sailor, Ajit Kumarasiri, Ibrar Hussain Babar, Yaser Sadeq and coach Waseem.
'This year we had a good turnout of 55 players from both the Bahrain Cricket Association (BCA) and the Bahrain Cricket League (BCL) for the five-day trials,' said Arulvasagam 'and we selected the best talent that we felt was needed for the team to do well in Thailand.'
Coach Waseem, from Pakistan, was contracted by the BCA last year after the departure of compatriot Mohsin Kamal. The 50-year-old played first class cricket in Pakistan and also played in England for 12 years in the Staffordshire, Lancashire and Middlesbrough leagues.
Coach Waseem is confident that his team will do well in the 50-over clash in which seven teams have been divided into two groups.
Bahrain is drawn in Group B along with China, Myanmar and Qatar with the Gulf team expected to give Bahrain a run for their money. Group A includes Singapore, Thailand and Iran with the first two expected to reach the semi-finals and the tournament finalists will qualify for a T20 event in Nepal next March.
The Bahrainis open their engagements on December 7 against China and play Myanmar the next day. They then clash with Qatar on December 10.
The first semi-final will be played on December 11 and the second one the following day with the 5th/6th placings match also on December 12 and the final on December 13.
Waseem said: 'The tournament in Chiang Mai will be played in daylight and on turf wickets. That itself is a big disadvantage for my boys. Since most of them are working we have to practice under floodlights and the nets sessions are on matting wickets as we don’t have turf wickets in Bahrain.
'To acclimatise the players with the conditions in Thailand we will be leaving Bahrain on December 1 to play a couple of matches with local teams so that our players can get a feel of turf wickets. I’m positive that they will adapt to the conditions and give a good account of themselves.'
Skipper Dar, 37, who is employed with HSBC as a business development officer and has been a resident of Bahrain for 13 years, said: 'I’ve been a member of visiting Bahrain teams in the past and this is the first time that I will be leading the side. We have a good mixture of youth and experience with some good spinners as well as pacemen and some good fielders also. We have always been hampered in our preparations with the lack of turf wickets to practice on, but I’m confident that our boys will perform well.
'I would like to urge the authorities to prepare turf wickets so that Bahrain’s cricketers have a fighting chance in tournaments overseas.'
The team includes dashing opening batsman Asif Siddique, who holds the Bahrain record of scoring 234 runs in an innings off just 75 balls in a BCL Twenty20 game for Behbehani Audi in October last year. The 27-year-old Bahrain-born Pakistani, who works with BATSCO Security Services as operations IT manager, slammed 22 sixes and 15 fours, at a strike rate of over 300. This will be his first stint with the senior team.
Three members of the squad – 20-year-olds Bahrainis Sameer Yousuf and Numan Yusaf and Indian Hardeep Singh – have risen from the ranks of the Bahrain Under-19 team, while Pakistani all-rounder Qamar Saeed is the oldest at 44.
The squad: Mohammad Tahir Dar (capt) 37 years, Shahzad Siddique (v-capt) 25, Mohammad Ashraf Mughal, 42, Asif Siddique, 27, Huzaifa Mohammed Akram, 30, Qamar Saeed, 44, Imran Sajjad Ghulam Rasool, 32, Ateeq-ur-Rahman, 27, and Shahzad Ahmed (wk) 34 (all Pakistanis), Sameer Yousuf, 20, Abdul Wahab Mohammad Shahban Ghulam, 28, Numan Yousaf, 20 (all Bahrainis), Hardeep Singh, 20, Vasantha Kunder, 29 (both Indians).
Coach – Amir Waseem, manager – Dr Khurram Sarfaraz Mukhtar Ahmed and physio – Ahmed Ismail Mubarak Abdulla.
Reserves: Saad Khalid Mahmodd Mohammad Yousuf, 27, Sameer Fayyaz, 18, Majid Shabbir, 24, and Mohamed Asif Mohamed Saleem Mulla Alghazali, 24 (all Bahrainis).
