JEDDAH, 25 May 2004 — Arab News is sponsoring the next Under-19 cricket tournament for the fourth year in a row, Shahid Amin, president of Jeddah Cricket League, the organizers, said here on Sunday night.
“Arab News is also considering sponsoring the U-17 event this year,” Amin said at the general body meeting of JCL held at La Sani restaurant (Spinzer). Saudi Gazette is to sponsor the U-15 tournament like in the previous years.
Amin acquainted the meeting with the developments following last month’s grant of affiliation to JCL and Central Cricket Control Board (CCCB) by the General Presidency of Youth Welfare.
He emphasized that the league was the leaseholder of all 15 grounds in the King Abdul Aziz International Airport (KAIA) complex currently being used by various clubs for matches. “I’ve myself signed an agreement with Engineer Sameer Al-Maddah, deputy director general at KAIA, who fully supports JCL,” Amin said.
Representatives of 38 registered clubs and media were present at the meeting.
Youth program is the brainchild of Arab News Editor in Chief Khaled A. Al-Maeena and Amin, as the maiden tournament was organized in February 2000. Since then this program has become popular and developed youth to become talented cricketers who have secured places in overseas universities.
Al-Maeena has expressed his wish to send a youth and senior team of JCL to tour the neighboring Arab countries, Amin said.
This year, the tournament is offered to the clubs and 12 of them have registered and divided into two groups where they will play five round-robin matches of 20 overs per innings with each bowler restricted to four overs. Top two teams from each group will qualify for the final stages of the tournament.
Considering the constraints experienced by schools and the student community, the next tournament of U-17 is scheduled to start in September and will be completed before Ramadan. All interested schools should apply in writing to JCL Executive Secretary Muhammad Iqbal (Fax: 636-7508).
Since 2000, JCL has been sponsoring this event and considered the most popular among inter-school activities.
In July 2000, JCL was instrumental in sending a Saudi Arabian U-17 team to participate in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Asia Cup competed by 10 nations in Pakistan. “The performance of the team was noteworthy being the maiden team from the Kingdom ever to tour abroad,” Amin said.
