Sharjah Cricket Stadium

The Sharjah Cricket Stadium (Arabic: ملعب الشارقة للكريكيت) is in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. It holds the record for the most ODIs hosted in a venue with 240 ODIs up to December 2019. It was originally constructed in the early 1980s and has been much improved over the years.[2] It hosted its first international matches in April 1984, in the Asia Cup.[3] The stadium was one of the dedicated venues for the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup.

"Sharjah Stadium" redirects here. For the football stadium, see Sharjah Stadium (football).

Sharjah Cricket Stadium
SCS
Sharjah Cricket Ground in 1998
Ground information
LocationSharjah, United Arab Emirates
Coordinates25°19′50.96″N 55°25′15.44″E
Establishment1982
Capacity16,000[1]
OwnerBukhatir Group
TenantsUnited Arab Emirates
End names
Bukhatir Stand
North Academy End
International information
First Test31 January – 4 February 2002:
 Pakistan v  West Indies
Last Test30 October – 3 November 2016:
 Pakistan v  West Indies
First ODI6 April 1984:
 Pakistan v  Sri Lanka
Last ODI9 June 2023:
 United Arab Emirates v  West Indies
First T20I3 March 2013:
 Afghanistan v  Scotland
Last T20I27 March 2023:
 Afghanistan v  Pakistan
First WODI9 January 2015:
 Pakistan v  Sri Lanka
Last WODI5 November 2017:
 Pakistan v  New Zealand
First WT20I15 January 2015:
 Pakistan v  Sri Lanka
Last WT20I14 November 2017:
 Pakistan v  New Zealand
As of 9 June 2023
Source: ESPNcricinfo

In 2010, at the behest of local cricketing patron Abdul Rahman Bukhatir, the Sharjah Cricket Stadium became the home ground for the Afghanistan cricket team for One Day International and first-class matches.[4] In 2016, Afghanistan changed their home ground to Greater Noida Sports Complex Ground in Noida, India. The Multan Sultans and the Quetta Gladiators used the Sharjah Cricket Stadium for most of their home games in the most recent PSL season.

The cricket stadium also hosted the inaugural edition of the T10 cricket league, which is a 90-minute cricket league from 14 to 17 December 2017 featuring several international cricket players.[5]

The stadium also hosted the final of the 2018 Blind Cricket World Cup featuring India and Pakistan with India defeating Pakistan by 2 wickets to secure the Blind Cricket World Cup title.[6] It has 62 metre boundaries in long on and 58 metre in straight. It has 65 metre boundary in mid wicket.

Test matches

Sharjah cricket stadium is one of the few Test Cricket Grounds at which a Test match has been played not involving a home country participant (and the only one in a non-Test playing country) Sharjah was the venue for four Test matches in 2002. Because of security and safety concerns in Pakistan and its aftermath) the ground was chosen as a neutral venue to host two Test matches between Pakistan and the West Indies in February and two Test matches between Pakistan and Australia in October.

The fifth Test match held at the ground took place in November 2011, as the third Test between Sri Lanka and Pakistan. The other games in the series were played at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi and Dubai International Cricket Stadium.[7]

One Day Internationals

Between 1984 and 2003, the Sharjah ground was the venue for 206 One Day Internationals[4] held as part of commercially sponsored one day tournaments involving three or four international teams. Sharjah was a popular venue attracting good crowds mostly from the South Asian population of the United Arab Emirates. The tournaments were organised by "The Cricketers Benefit Fund Series (CBFS)" which had been established in 1981 by Abdul Rahman Bukhatir, and whose main aim was to honour cricketers of the past and present generations from India and Pakistan, with benefit purses in recognition of their services to the game of cricket. The stadium initially started with a few limited seats and very modest facilities but by 2002 had a 17,000 capacity and floodlights.

Since 2003 the increasingly crowded cricket calendar has precluded the holding of any major international matches at Sharjah although the stadium has been the venue for certain other matches, for example in the 2004 ICC Intercontinental Cup. It has also been used by the Afghanistan national team since 2010. In 2011, the Guinness Book of Records[8] recorded the Sharjah stadium as hosting the greatest number of one-day matches. As of December 2019, 240 ODIs had been played at the ground.[9]

ICC Men's T20 World Cup

The venue hosted 11 group-stage matches during 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup.[10]

Indian Premier League

The UAE has hosted matches in the Indian Premier League, with matches being played on the ground on each occasion. The 2014 season was played in the UAE due to the 2014 Indian general election and parts of both the 2020 and 2021 season were played in the country due to the widespread outbreak of COVID-19 in India.

The Sachin Tendulkar Stand

In April 2023, On Sachin Tendulkar's 50th birthday, the West Stand at the iconic Sharjah Cricket Stadium has been renamed the 'Sachin Tendulkar Stand in a special ceremony in the UAE, honouring the Indian cricket legend.[11]

Records

T20Is

See also

References
  1. "Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium, Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates | Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium, Sharjah Cricket Grounds, Match Schedule".
  2. Cricinfo: Sharjah Stadium Profile Archived 1 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Retrieved 23 August 2010.
  3. "This day that year - Sharjah Cricket Stadium hosts its first international match". The National. 6 April 2020. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  4. Cricinfo: Sharjah named Afghanistan's new home ground Archived 25 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Retrieved 23 August 2010.
  5. "Fixtures, Schedule | T10 Cricket League | ESPN Cricinfo". Cricinfo. Archived from the original on 15 December 2017. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  6. "India take on Pakistan in Blind Cricket World Cup final 2018 in Sharjah". Archived from the original on 20 January 2018. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  7. "Fixtures, Schedule | Global". ESPN Cricinfo. Archived from the original on 10 February 2012. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
  8. "Sharjah cricket stadium enters Guinness Book of World Records". Cricket Country. 21 November 2011. Archived from the original on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 21 November 2011.
  9. Sharjah stadium stats at espncricinfo.com, March 2019
  10. "T20 World Cup to take place in UAE and Oman, confirms ICC". SportsTiger. 29 June 2021. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  11. "Sharjah stadium stand named after Sachin Tendulkar on his 50th birthday". Hindustan Times. 25 April 2023. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
  12. "Afghanistan qualify, PNG and Scotland stay alive". ESPN Cricinfo. 24 November 2013.
  13. "Mujeeb Ur Rahman impresses as Afghanistan claim T20 World Cup win over Scotland". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  14. "Rassie's heroics, Rabada's hat-trick in vain as Proteas OUT of T20 World Cup". The South African. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  15. "Gulf International win Rashid Alleem League title". gulfnews.com. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
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