ECB chief Mani unveils domestic cricket policy

Dilawar Mani has been working for the development of cricket in the UAE for a long time and he has taken it a notch higher this time.

By James Jose

Published: Fri 24 Sep 2010, 11:52 PM

Last updated: Mon 6 Apr 2015, 3:04 AM

Since, being elevated to the post of Chief Executive Officer of the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB), the younger brother of former International Cricket Council chief Ehsan Mani, has come up with a domestic cricket policy which will focus on the development of cricket and governance.

Mani, who revealed the policy at the impressive Shaikh Zayed International Cricket Stadium, said that the policy was aimed at streamlining cricketing activities in the UAE and to bring it under a faultless and transparent system.

“The Domestic Cricket Policy will govern all the tournaments and games played in the UAE,” Mani said and added that it will be implemented with “immediate effect” although all factors to be implemented will take a “bit of time.”

“The process started in June and we, at the Emirates Cricket Board, finalised it now,” Mani added.

The policy covers registration of players and umpires, jurisdiction of the four cricket councils, playing conditions, junior cricket development, B Division cricket, A Division cricket, women’s cricket, umpires pool, the ECB website and the revenue policy.

Mani said that the policy will also negate the commercial exploitation in academies and tournaments which were not sanctioned by the ECB. ”So far all the cricket councils, including Sharjah, Dubai, Ajman and Abu Dhabi, were doing their own things and have managed it on their own. The commercial interests cropped up resulting in exploitation of young cricketers. Hence we thought we have to bring all the councils under one roof,” said Mani, who hails from Rawalpindi.

Under registration, it will be mandatory for all players, teams, academies, indoor cricket centres, coaches and umpires to register themselves with their respective councils. The registrations will then be feed into a central database which will be maintained by the ECB, which means all the information can be accessed by the cricket councils and umpires. “Players and umpires who fail to register would not eligible to participate in domestic cricket,” Mani said.

Mani also said that private organisers will require approval from the regional council of their jurisdiction.

Mani said that for the sake of clarity the jurisdiction of the regional councils were defined. The Abu Dhabi Cricket Council will take care of Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, while Sharjah will govern Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah. The Dubai Cricket Council will manage Dubai, while the Ajman Cricket Council will take care of Ajman and Umm All Quwain.

The policy also focuses mainly on junior cricket and it is mandatory to conduct a minimum of one tournament for all classifications including Under-12, under-14 or under-15, under-16 or under-17 and under-19 tournaments. The councils shall also share playing facilities where possible to ensure that the youth are provided all opportunities.

Mani said that there are plans to have inter-emirate games where they will play for the National Championship. “We are also planning to have inter-emirate tournaments in the future which would help us unearth the cream of cricketers at the junior level. The winner in this tournament will be the national champions,” he said.

To ensure quality of cricket and to unearth talents for the National team, the ECB have devised a two-tier system. “It will be along the lines of the English Premier League with promotion and relegation. The A division will have the top teams. A total of 10 teams will play in this division and at the end of the season, the bottom two teams will be relegated to the B division. The top two teams in the B Division will be promoted to the A Division,” Mani said.

Regional councils will have to maintain a database on umpires. Umpires will be graded and based on reviews, the ECB will provide further training.

Mani also touched upon the revenue policy where he said that all grants provided by the ECB will have to be accounted for by the regional councils. “All revenues should be ploughed back into development of facilities, tournaments and players,” he said.

“The councils are non-profit making organizations so they will be concentrating only on development of cricket in their region. The grants provided by the ECB will be fully accounted for and non-utilization of the granted funds will be returned,” he added.

Mani also said that women’s cricket will be top priority. “All the regional councils shall promote women’s cricket and support the ECB programmes for international and domestic participation. Sharjah and Dubai already have a system in place to promote women’s cricket and all other councils should adopt it,” he said.

james@khaleejtimes.com