The world’s newest international cricket venue, the 141st tostage one-day cricket, will be unveiled on Monday in a mostunlikely location, at Tangiers in French-speaking northernAfrica
Charlie Austin11-Aug-2002The world’s newest international cricket venue, the 141st tostage one-day cricket, will be unveiled on Monday in a mostunlikely location, at Tangiers in French-speaking northernAfrica.South Africa will take on Pakistan in the first match of theMorocco Cup 2002, a triangular tournament also involving SriLanka that marks the latest chapter in the growth of a remarkablecricketing empire.Its all part of an ambitious Dubai-based construction tycoon’sdream – part commercial, part utilitarian – to globalise the gameof cricket, especially throughout the Arab world.Abdur Rahmann Bukhatir’s involvement with cricket started in the1970’s in the desert city of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, whenhe created the Cricketer’s Benefit Fund Series (CBFS), afundraising vehicle for retired, underpaid Asian cricketers ofyesteryear.But the CBFS mushroomed into far more than a cricketers’ pensionscheme. Sharjah held its first official One-Day International in1981 and by the 1990’s the CBFS tri-series had developed into aregular biannual event, feeding Asia’s apparently insatiableappetite for limited overs cricket.And as the value of television rights soared throughout the1990’s, Sharjah became a financial honeypot, offering Asiancricket boards a valuable revenue stream and the playersastronomical prize money.But the new millennium brought fresh challenges, as the CBFS wasfaced was confronted by a grave image crisis, as Sharjah becameembroiled in the match fixing scandal that rocked internationalcricket.For years the plethora of matches played at Sharjah (no othervenue has staged more ODIs) had attracted suspicions thatbookmakers had successfully fixed matches.Amidst allegations that the tournament was fixed in favour ofPakistan, the Indian government stopped their team from visitingSharjah for three years.With England and Australia also wary of playing there, the CBFS’sfuture appeared to be in jeopardy, as the value of its televisionrights plummeted.Ironically, the crisis only served to broaden Buhatir’s horizons,as the CBFS moved into television production, setting up TajTelevision and launching a dedicated sports channel called TENSports, a development that paved the way for the new”made-for-television” stadium in Tangiers.Morocco will now provide TEN Sports with the compelling cricketcontent that it needs to compete with the more established sportschannels such as Star Sports and ESPN that dominate the Asiantelevision market.And despite its francophone heritage, the location has twodistinct attractions: a perfect Mediterranean climate thatprovides for a long season during the southern hemisphere winterand a nearby Asian population in Europe that Bukhatir’s hopeswill embrace the venture.”Morocco is very close to Europe and it will be very easy forIndians and Pakistanis living in Spain and Portugal to come andwatch matches,” said Bukhatir.But although CBFS’s involvement is primarily a commercialventure, Bukhatir is a fanatical cricket fan, possessing agenuine philanthropists desire to develop the game, a fact borneout by the scope and scale of his financial investment.They have already pumped close to USD 15 million into Morocco,building two stadiums in Tangiers and Rabat, as well as employingthree full-time coaches, including former Indian all-rounderMohinder Amaranath, to work with local cricketers.The infrastructure and coaches will help the Federation RoyaleMarocaine de Cricket (FRMC) – which Bukhatir helped set-up andacquire Affiliate Status of the International Cricket Council -to foster the game.Currently there are just 280 regular cricketers and eight teamsin Morocco competing in a 30-over league, but Amaranath believesthat the FRMC can generate much greater interest in the game.”Cricket in Morocco is like a new language,” he said. “When westarted two years ago no-one knew about the game, but they nowbetter. The game will grow in the future as people become moreaware.”Perhaps the CBFS is unlikely to convert large numbers ofMorocco’s football loving, cafe lounging public to cricket, butthey are certainly trying to capture local interest in Tangiers,offering free entry into the stadium and the chance to winvaluable prizes to those who turn up to watch the games.And the spectators are not the only ones offered incentiveseither, as the CBFS has put up an astonishing USD 250,000 pot ofprize money for the teams, ensuring that the triangulartournament will be taken very seriously indeed.At the moment the 5000-seater Tangiers Cricket Stadium is in astate of frantic half-completion. With 24 hours to go till thecurtain rises bulldozers are still landscaping, walls are stillbeing painted and terracotta tiles are still being hammered ontothe roof.Situated adjacent to the verdant lawns of the Royal Golf Club,looking out on to the hills surrounding Tangiers that are dottedwith plush white villas, the venue will be spectacular whenfinished.The interior is closer to completion and very impressive, withexcellent state-of-the-art facilities for the players, officials,media and the entourage of VIPs who are being invited to theinaugural tournament.ICC match referee, Mike Procter, who inspected the venue’sfacilities, was fulsome in his support: “The stadium is ideal forinternational cricket and I have no hesitation in recommendingits approval.”Crucially, the cricket facilities are finished. There are sevenpractice nets all in working order, the outfield is striped inlush, green grass and the pitch boosts a gleaming white colour,similar in look to the high scoring surfaces common at Sharjah.The exact nature of the pitch though is a point of conjecture.The two club standard matches played on it in June suggested thatit would suit the spinners, but local observers have suggestedthat it has now hardened up, potentially offering the fastbowlers some pace and bounce.That will be welcomed by the likes of hard-hitting strokeplayerssuch as Sanath Jayasuriya, Lance Klusener and Shahid Afridi, whowill already be relishing the challenge of clearing therelatively short boundaries.Certainly the CBFS will be hoping that the new venue starts witha bang. An exciting, high scoring tournament will go a long wayto justifying the whole ambitious project.But perhaps the most crucial factor that will determine whetherthe CBFS’s risky decision to delve into television is successfulor not will be whether they can lure India over to play in thenear future.To that end the CBFS is desperate for Morocco’s reputation to besqueaky clean, welcoming the advice of the ICC’s Anti CorruptionUnit enthusiastically and taking the issue of security seriously.Some measures are mere window dressing, such as the signboardnailed to the main entrance that announces in bold red writingthat, “BETTING AND GAMBLING ON CRICKET IS ILLEGAL AND STRICTLYPROHIBITED.”But the widespread use of video surveillance outside the dressingrooms and in the team hotels, as well as the now standard mobilephone ban, will make it harder for determined bookmakers tocommunicate with corrupt players.And should the Tangiers Cricket Stadium be successful infostering a clean image, there is even the possibility ofbecoming a neutral Test venue, as security fears continue todisrupt cricket in Pakistan and Zimbabwe.However, talk of Test cricket here is premature, first the localshave to be persuaded to embrace the game, a task that starts inearnest this week.