World Cricket League: Bahrain team arrive in Thailand

Manama : Bahrain’s National Cricket Team under the umbrella of the Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) are in Chiang Mai, Thailand  to compete in the World Cricket League Asia Division One which starts from today with three matches featuring hosts Thailand against Bhutan, China with Saudi Arabia and a Gulf clash between Kuwait and Qatar, Bahrain having a first round-robin bye.

Bahrain are captained by Azeem Ul Haq, managed by Syed Rizwan Shah and coached by Rexie Arunvasagam and prior to arrival in Thailand played a series of friendly matches en route in Sri Lanka to prepare for the tournament, get some acclimisation (similar to Thailand) and play on natural turf wickets.

Bahrain will join Bhutan, China, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and hosts Thailand in a single round-robin competition with all matches played in Thailand’s second city of Chiang Mai in the 50-overs format.

Team manager Syed Rizwan Shah said on leaving Bahrain, “I hope we will finish in the top two and hopefully get promotion. Selecting a squad saw 140 players turn up for open trials, before we whittled down to 35 and a final squad of 14 with four reserves on stand-by back home and overall I expect our main rivals will be Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.”

Shah said, “Going to Sri Lanka first was a chance to acclimatise and get used to turf wickets, as Bahrain sadly lacks them.” 

Bahrain’s 18-man squad is a 9/9 split from both the Cricket Bahrain Association and Bahrain Cricket League and is a first time done by players selected based on ability not reputation and includes nine players selected for the first time at this level including five who have been promoted from the Under-19 team.

Bahrain squad: (Captain) Azeem Ul Haq, Tahir Dar, Babar Ali, Junaid Niazi, Gamini Perrera, Imran Butt, Janaka Chathuranga, Mohammed Ismail, Amir Gondal, Mohammed Sameer Fayaz, Mohammed Iqbal, Awad Khan, Bilal Mansoor, Jabbar Amjad. (Head Coach): Rexie Arunvasagam, (Manager): Syed Rizwan Shah.

Full schedule (all matches in Chiang Mai):

April 22:

Bhutanv Thailand, 

China v Saudi Arabia, 

Kuwait v Qatar. 

April 23: 

Thailand v Bahrain, 

Qatar v Bhutan, 

Kuwait v China. 

April 25: 

Bhutan vChina, 

Thailand v Qatar, 

Bahrain v Saudi Arabia. 

April 26: 

Kuwaitv Saudi Arabia,

Qatar v Bahrain, 

China v Thailand. 

April 28: 

BhutanvSaudi Arabia, 

Qatar v China, 

Bahrain v Kuwait. 

April 29: 

China v Bahrain, 

Bhutan v Kuwait, 

Thailand v Saudi Arabia.

May 1: 

Bahrain v Bhutan, 

Qatar v Saudi Arabia, 

Kuwait v Thailand.