After an unforgettable trip to India for the 2011 World Cup, Ed Dew and Ash Pattani have ventured to the desert to watch England again. Wisely avoiding the Test match whitewash, they’re in Dubai for some one-day and Twenty20 action. Sounds like the perfect holiday!
One game in, and it had already been worth the trip. England wrapped up an unassailable three-nil lead in the series, Finn looking fresh, tearing in with hostility and delivering again on his way to 3-24, and Kevin Pietersen scoring a 93-ball hundred, and showing the ferocity of old. And all of this unfolding in the surprisingly atmospheric cathedral of a ground, Dubai Sports City’s ‘Ring of Fire’.
Compared to touring India and Sri Lanka for the World Cup last year, the logistics of this tour have been as straightforward as Geoff Boycott’s defensive technique: four games in a week in Dubai, the end of the one-day series and the start of the Twenty20s; one hotel not five; and two flights rather than seven. Having started our journey by negotiating a couple of large suitcases on a full-to-bursting Piccadilly Line Friday night rush-hour train, it ought to be downhill all of the way.
After a six-hour flight we touched down in the desert. We negotiated our way through Dubai’s grandiose airport, which – with 50-foot silver pillars and in-built waterfall – felt more like a Las Vegas casino than a immigration hall, we were greeted by a sandstorm, which was busy wrecking England’s pre-match practice for the third match of the one-day series.
We arrived early at the stadium, which was surrounded by half-built tower blocks and housing estates and without another cricket fan in sight. We were soon wondering whether we’d be the only supporters in the ground alongside Dubai’s answer to Jimmy Savile, Mohammad Zaman – Mr Twenty20 himself – the man who is known for twirling his moustache as he dances his way through matches, and is an ever-present at Pakistan’s fixtures in Dubai.
As it was, people steadily arrived at this cricketing oasis from all directions and the ground ended up around a quarter full. Spotless, and with good camber on the seats, it’s a beautiful stadium akin to Hampshire’s Rose Bowl. And, with the drumming and chanting of Pakistan’s enigmatic supporters there was a decent atmosphere too.
The home fans did well to keep their spirits up as Pakistan, having won the toss, batted poorly for the third match in succession. For Mr Twenty20, some solace could be found in a half-century by Shahid ‘Boom Boom’ Afridi, who from the evidence here remains Pakistan’s premier hero.
For England’s more thinly spread supporters, aside from the aforementioned spell from Finn, England’s fielding highlight was another salmon-like leap from Samit Patel to snaffle Umar Akmal, the only other Pakistan batsman to contribute much with an uncharacteristically patient fifty.
England set about the task of chasing down 224 with plenty of purpose. Cook, who appears to have reinvented himself as Sanath Jayasuriya, was cutting almost every ball along the immaculate turf. He was aided by some inept bowling and fielding from the home side, including a 10-ball over from Umar Gul.
A 10-wicket victory and another one-day ton for Cook seemed inevitable. But, 20 runs short of becoming the first Englishman to join the club of three consecutive one-day hundreds alongside Zaheer Abbas, Saeed Anwar, Herschelle Gibbs and AB de Villiers, disaster struck. Cook went for one cut too many and feathered a catch behind, where he was perhaps unlucky to find himself caught by the least calamitous of the three wicketkeeping Akmal brothers.
That left Pietersen to cruise to his own personal century, astonishingly his first for over three years. And, with that excitement complete, there was just enough time for the smattering of England fans to create (at close to £6 a pint) the most expensive beer snake in world cricket before the remaining spectators disappeared like ants over the sand dunes and into the desert.
Our first game complete, we had two days to soak up Dubai culture. First, we headed – via Dubai’s potent Fish Market – to the glittering gold souks in the Old Town. With more sparkle than Dwayne Bravo’s earring collection, it was hard not to be impressed – although it did highlight a worrying goldeness to Ed’s facial hair. But at least the beard blended in. Bling is everywhere in Dubai.
After a short journey on a ‘souked-up’ version of the Dockland’s Light Railway, we arrived at another of Dubai’s ostentatious sporting venues, the Dubai Tennis Stadium. We didn’t linger long. The first-round ladies tennis on show was as one-sided as the early stages of a cricket world cup, or a Pakistan v England series for that matter…
