JEDDAH, 25 May — The Saudi Arabian Cricket Board came into being on April 28 by virtue of the merger agreement between SACA (Saudi Arabian Cricket Association) and CCCB (Central Cricket Control Board), and was named Saudi Arabian Cricket Board.

Brig. Gen. Dr. Prince Abdul Aziz ibn Nasser ibn Abdul Aziz became the patron in chief and Sheikh Zainal Alireza, Khaled Al Maeena, Saleh Al Sagary and Walid Al Rawaf  patrons. Sheikh Hussain Saleh Al Zuhair was the president and Shahid Amin was the chief executive and senior vice president of the board.

The board within two months of its formation sent the first ever Under-l7 team to Pakistan to participate in the ICC Under-17 Asia Cup Tournament.

The other major achievement was to lodge the board’s application with ICC Asia Region for affiliation. Shahid Amin during his visit to Pakistan had numerous meetings with Nasim ul-Ghani, ICC Asia Region Development officer to finalize the application.

During his meeting in Lahore on Dec. 25, he handed him the official application on behalf of the Saudi Arabian Cricket Board.

Shahid Amin, during his subsequent meeting with Nasim ul-Ghani at the National Stadium in Karachi Jan. 5, faxed the application to Roger Hill, ICC Global Development Manager at Lord’s, London.

The acknowledgment of the same was received from Roger Hill, on June 8 who recommended to submit the board’s constitution at the earliest.

He emphasized the point that the Saudi board has no formal constitution. This is a very sensitive documents which governs the board and its members.

Therefore, the draft constitution should be presented during the board meetings and understood and agreed by all members of the board from different regions.

This document should be approved unanimously before it can be enforced as an official document and later submitted to ICC.

The same message was conveyed to Roger Hill in London.

A dinner in his honor was attended by senior officials of KCCA including its secretary Prof. Sirajul Islam  Bokhari, members of Pakistan Cricket Control Board, ex-Test cricketers Waqar Hassan, Maj. Shujauddin and Muhammad Amin.

After the dinner Shahid Amin briefed the press conference about the cricketing activities in Saudi Arabia and answered questions.

He also explained the difficulties encountered in pioneering the game 25 years ago as the first match was played at the old Graveyard in Jeddah.