The UAE cricket team has taken some significant stride in the recent times, by qualifying for the 2015 World Cup after 19 years and also figuring in the 2016 World T20. However, in an expat-driven team, maintaining that steady progress is a huge challenge. Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) CEO David East, however, is confident of facilitating the team’s development and evolution into a strong ODI and T20 playing nation in the coming years.
ECB has shown faith in East’s managerial skills by extending his contract for another three years and he will be based in Dubai for the second innings. The Briton was of the view that the time had come for him to fully focus on ECB’s highly demanding affairs and he spoke at length in an exclusive interview Gulf News on the task at hand and his plans for future. Excerpts:
How do you assess your tenure so far with the ECB?
I got here in January 2013 and obviously, coming to the region for the first time, it took a while to understand the way things work here. I have been associated with cricket for a long time but understanding the different groups that are involved with cricket here was quite a challenge, especially the first year. But once I got a decent understanding, there were a lot of things that I knew I needed to do.
Giving the coach more control over the players and central contracts was absolutely crucial ...
I had to make sure that we had a professional national developing structure and a manager that could work towards developing the UAE cricket and concentrating on the minds trying to get everybody on the same page and move them together.
More importantly, it was very important to improve the commercial — financial side of the game. Introducing new sponsor and making sure that we had the crest of the financial management in place. Frankly speaking, I’m happy the way those things have developed.
Despite the implementation of central contracts, why do we still keep losing U-19 players?
The problem that we face, as you know, is when a young boy reaches 18 he can’t stay in the UAE unless he is pursuing his education or is employed somewhere. It may be that an 18-year-old is not good enough now to get a central contract but he might be smart enough to go for some form of higher education. We are trying to make sure that we have got partnerships in place to support the players who have shown promise.
Through their higher education here in the UAE, if they stay on for two or three years then maybe they might be ready to take a full-time cricket role with us. If we lose them at 19, then all the investment we put on them from their younger age is lost. I’m working with the national development manager, other members of the team to try and develop partnership with higher education authorities and other bodies.
A war-torn country like Afghanistan have 300 full time cricketers because of their contract system, is it something to do with the better funding they receive from ICC?
They do get a good support from ICC and there is no question that Ireland and Afghanistan are been viewed as the next team that are pushing for the Test status. ICC is supporting them significantly and I don’t disagree with them. I think on merit, they are the ones to be nurtured for Test cricket. The really thing is they have got the domestic infrastructure in the longer format as well which we don’t have. Our vision has to be a three and four-day leagues but obviously that requires funding. All of our players who are playing here in the UAE are here because they are working or centrally contracted. It is difficult in the short-term how we can correct that but it is certainly something we can keep an eye on for future. However, our immediate priority is to make sure we are entirely successful in T20 and 50-over cricket.
After Aaqib Javed left, most players were of the view to have an Asian coach. What is your take on it?
The obvious advantage of having an Asian coach is better communication and there is no ambiguity in terms of what that coach is saying to the players. There is always that grey area if you have that English-speaking coach and you need to have a very good assistant coach who speaks Hindi to make sure he is supported. We are pretty advanced with that process right now and hopeful of an appointment in the near future. But yes, those are the key issues which we are mindful of.
The ICC Academy is a private entity all together. Their rates are exuberant when you compare with other venues, so is it feasible for ECB to have a tie-up with them?
It is a commercial venture and you can’t deny that. There is a significant investment and obviously the people who have invested are looking for a return. ECB have and agreement with the ICC academy to access their facilities and also their key performance staff — Wills Kitchen, the high performance manager, Peter Kelly the strength and conditioning coach, then physiotherapist and a number of others. It is a brilliant relationship because it is a world-class facility and why shouldn’t we access it. By doing so, we get an unprecedented advantage over other associate countries and so we have to make the most.
Are you happy with your stint at Abu Dhabi Cricket Club?
We had IPL (Indian Premier Leagues) there with multiple matches along with the Pakistan bilateral series. We managed to increase the number of County teams visiting out there during the pre-season in February and March. The development of the two Ovals with the support of the council was a boost and the building of the pavilion out there.
The creation of the three grass facilities saw the hosting of U-19 World Cup and T20 qualifiers. These are some of the things I would cherish when I look back on.
Now that your contract has been extended, what goals have you set for yourself and ECB?
What I would like to see is Emirate Cricket Board secure its position as an ODI team going forward. I would like to see development of infrastructure and see more Emiratis playing the game. I would like to see the facilities being continuously developed and see ECB nurture that. Expand our commercial operations and sustain that with the funding that we receive. I’m very much looking forward to the next few years.
