Kuwait at the Kuwait Cricket 2014 Six Nations Event

Kuwait’s cricketing communities are getting together for the first time in the 68 years that organised cricket has been played in the country. A ‘Six Nations Cricket Festival’ is being held in March and April with players of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka making up the sides and most significantly, for the first time a team of Kuwait nationals is playing in a Kuwait Cricket event. “We are delighted to be able to include this team of Kuwait in the event, they are an up and coming side and it shows that cricket is catching on among the Arab people here,” says Kuwait Cricket Director General Asad Baig.

	U-16 Elite cricketer Husain Al Shatti in 2012

With an estimated 40% of the 2.7 million population in Kuwait being migrants from the subcontinent, there is no difficulty in finding cricketers to form the playing XIs of ‘Bangladesh’, ‘India’, ‘Pakistan’ and ‘Sri Lanka’. Afghanistan’s inclusion in the same bracket as those whose origins are in the Test-playing nations comes as no surprise such has been their rapid rise in recent years. Thousands of spectators have followed the Afghanistan national and U-19 sides whenever they have played in Kuwait and young Afghan cricketers are active in the local leagues. Kuwait’s Arab cricketers have been playing in a Gulf Cup, held between the Arab cricketers of the Middle East and have impressed with their enthusiasm. Arab cricketers have also been a feature of the U-16 sides in ACC events and Kuwait is planning to host the next Gulf Cup for Arab nationals. The Kuwait team of cricketers are also in line to play in this year’s Asian Games.

Whereas Kuwait Cricket has selected the Kuwait team, all the embassies have chosen the other cricketers from among their nationals who are playing in the local leagues. “It will be a big event and the fact that Kuwait’s Arab cricketers have joined us and will be making a start as a team in Kuwait for the first time is a significant thing,” says Mr. Baig.

Kuwait Cricket Profile