UAE women cricketers to mix with world's best in innovative new tournament

A group of leading UAE cricketers will play alongside some of the stars of the women’s game when an innovative new tournament is launched in Dubai in May.

Chaya Mughal, the national team captain, allrounder Kavisha Kumari, and Esha Oza, a big-hitting opening batter, are set to feature in the FairBreak Invitational.

Another set of national team players, including the schoolgirl opener Theertha Satish, could yet play in the event, too, having been placed on standby.

The tournament will provide the best exposure yet for UAE cricketers, given that the six-team event is set to involve leading lights of the women’s game such as Suzie Bates, the New Zealand great, and Pakistan’s Sana Mir.

The competition is run under the auspices of Hong Kong Cricket, and had been due to be played in Kowloon. However, the logistics of Covid quarantine in Hong Kong have led the organisers to look to stage the event in Dubai Sports City instead.

It is set to involve 90 players from 36 countries. Forty of the players are from full Test-playing nations, with the rest coming from destinations as diverse as Bhutan, Vanuatu, Germany, as well as the group of players from the UAE.

The players will be divided into six teams, which will bear the names of the corporate brands they are representing.

“The concept has always been to have a grand slam tennis-type feel, in terms of having one venue in one city for all the matches, for two weeks with 19 games,” Shaun Martyn, the FairBreak founder, said.

“Having the teams corporately-branded, almost like the Tour de France or Japanese rugby, it means your team could have 15 players in it from 15 different countries.

“We see that as a big advantage to showcase the diversity in the game, and also the quality there