The Abu Dhabi Cricket Council's (ADCC) 2004-05 season gets off to a start this Friday with the annual Abu Dhabi Duty Free Trophy Cricket Championship.
The ADCC president, B.R Shetty, said the 16th edition of the ADDF Trophy has attracted nearly 40 teams and will kick start the new season at the Shaikh Zayed Cricket Stadium on Friday.
"This season, apart from our regular tournaments which include the UAE's premier A division event for the NMC Trophy, we also are working on a floodlit tournament during the Holy Month of Ramadan," Shetty said.
"We have roped in the services of a new ground curator in Mohan Singh who was in charge of the ground at Mohali, Punjab in India.
Former Ranji player Srinivas Rao has joined the administration and there has been a lot of progress on the Zayed Stadium," he added.
"The electronic scoreboard for the new stadium has already arrived and we are getting the support of a Adyard in the installation.
"We have also written to the ICC and are awaiting their visit for the final approval of the stadium," Shetty said. The ADCC general secretary Enam-ul Haq said the ADDF Trophy will be played on a league-cum- knockout basis.
"This year, we will also be allowing teams to field two players on visit visa to play in the local tournaments," Enam added.
The ADDF catering manager and a veteran cricketer here in the capital, Iqbal Shah, informed that ADDF was looking at their sponsorship more as a partnership.
"We have had a long relationship with ADCC and we hope to continue this," said Shah.
"Cricket is a popular game here in the UAE and at ADDF we are keen to promote such sporting events which attracts many communities," added ADDF marketing officer Dina Korety
The ADCCB secretary Ravi Pandit said plans were afoot to start coaching youngsters during the current season.
"In a month's time, the practice pitches outside the main stadium will be ready and school students and youth can avail of a regular coaching facility," he said.
"We have a bunch of former players who are equipped with certain levels of cricket coaching and we will be starting off with them," he added.
