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Exciting times are ahead for cricket fans in Bahrain as a major administrative change has seen a stronger focus on nurturing the kingdom’s young talent in order to make a mark on the international scene.
Furthermore, a deal has been struck with a prominent cricket academy in India which will see Bahrain’s brightest talent get an opportunity of a lifetime as part of an international exchange programme.
Bahrain’s numerous cricketing associations have merged into one entity, which will proceed henceforth under the umbrella name of the Cricket Bahrain Association (CBA), headed by its president, Saleem Alyass.
He explained: “My main aim was to have a single governing body which will be the authority for all forms of cricket on the island. My team and I put in a huge amount of effort to bring everyone under one roof, and we have the full confidence of the teams.
“This should make the processes much more streamlined and avoid any confusion. We are stronger and more united than ever before without numerous other groups splintered off.”
Alyass spoke at the CBA’s annual awards ceremony last week staged at the Swiss International Palace Hotel Manama, where the winners, runners-up and star players for the 11 tournaments held during the 2016/17 season were presented.
Away from the administrative side of things, Indian state minister Amin Pathan visited Bahrain last week, where he met with the Indian School, Bahrain’s executive committee member Bhupinder Sing and school principal VR Palaniswamy at the educational centre’s Isa Town campus.
There, a partnership was agreed, with initial plans for a student exchange programme put into motion. In principal, members of the Indian School’s Sports Academy will send its brightest talents to Pathan’s cricket academy in Rajasthan, and Indian students will come to Bahrain to expand their cricket knowledge.
Pathan was instrumental in the establishment of the lucrative Indian Premier League in 2008 and was the brainchild behind the Rajwada Premier League. He said: “This partnership with the Indian School, Bahrain is very exciting for both parties.
“Bahrain’s stars of the future will get a chance to further their ambitions at a prestigious location, whilst giving talents in Rajasthan an opportunity to come to such a great country will help me fulfil my dream of bolstering the cricket infrastructure in Rajasthan and worldwide.”
As for Bahrain’s standing on an international level, the kingdom is seeing significant progress throughout its age levels. Already Indian, Pakistani and British expats living on the island are marking their mark and they will soon be joined by Bahraini youngsters as the game grows in popularity in the kingdom.
Alyass said: “The future looks bright as we have a good expatriate population so there is a lot of interest in the game. Building on that, one of our goals is to introduce cricket to the local Arab schools which we are working on. There are many good young players coming up; for example, at our U19s trials earlier this year, more than 160 pupils showed up.
“We have eight school teams participating in various U12, U16 and U19 tournaments throughout the year and the numbers will increase next year. Our coaching staff is working hard with the young players at the academy to train them for future competition.”
His sentiments were echoed by Azeen Ul-Haque, the head coach of the U19s national team and himself a member of the senior national squad.
He said: “Over the past 15 to 20 years, there’s been a huge improvement on all levels and Bahrain is really starting to announce itself on the international stage. The U19 team in particular is doing very well, with a lot of talented youngsters.”
The players, some as young as 14, will be taking part in an international tournament in Malaysia from October 31 to November 8.
