The United Arab Emirates women's national cricket team represents the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in international women's cricket. The team is organised by the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB), which has been a member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) since 1990.
The UAE national team made its international debut at the 2007 ACC Women's Tournament in Malaysia. The team lost all three of its matches by large margins, and on debut againstBangladesh were bowled out for just nine runs, in a match which took just one hour to complete. The UAE squad was said to consist of "mothers and daughters", and the captain, Natasha Cherriath, was just twelve years old. The team's coach was Smitha Harikrishna, who played One Day International (ODI) cricket for India, and another ex-India player, Pramila Bhatt, was involved in a pre-tournament training camp. The UAE Women’s team is the team that represents the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in international and regional cricket matches. In July 2007, the UAE Women’s team made their international debut in the Asian Cricket Council’s (ACC) Women’s Tournament, which was played in Malaysia. Despite not reaping successes from their efforts on the international stage, the women’s team continue to make massive steps at a regional level, most recently by claiming the title of GCC Women’s T20 Championship victors at its inaugural tournament played in Oman in late 2014.
The home of UAE’s Women’s Cricket team is the infamous Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah.
Current Team
1. Roopa Nagraj(Captain)
2. Subha Srinivasan
3. Chaya Mughal
4. Esha Oza
5. Natasha Michael
6. Priyanjali Jain (WicketKeeper)
7. Kavisha Kumari
8. Heena Hotchanfani
9. Humaira Tasneem
10. Namita Dsouza
11. Nisha Ali
12. Aysha Naushad
13. Kyna Vedhasinghe
14. Shalani Wanniarachchi
15. Dipanki Borcar
16. Shivani Sathe
17. Fathimah Ahsan
18. Dharini Ravi
| United Arab Emirates | |
| Association | Emirates Cricket Board |
| ICC status | Associate member (1990) |
| ICC region | Asia |
| First international | |
| UAE vs. Bangladesh (Johor, Malaysia; 11 July 2007) | |
In July 2007, the UAE Women’s team made their international debut in the Asian Cricket Council’s (ACC) Women’s Tournament, which was played in Malaysia. Despite not reaping successes from their efforts on the international stage, the women’s team continue to make massive steps at a regional level, most recently by claiming the title of GCC Women’s T20 Championship victors at its inaugural tournament played in Oman in late 2014. The home of UAE’s Women’s Cricket team is the infamous Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah. At the 2009 ACC Women's Twenty20 Championship, the UAE won its first international match, defeating Oman by 49 runs. The team also defeated Kuwait, placing fourth in its six-team group, and narrowly defeated Iran in a play-off to finish seventh overall (out of twelve teams).The UAE had less success at the 2011 ACC Women's Twenty20 Championship, however, placing ninth out of ten teams and winning only two matches. At the 2013 ACC Women's Championship in Thailand, the team failed to win a single game, placing tenth out of eleven teams (above only Kuwait). However, the UAE has performed better in regional tournaments, winning both editions of the Gulf Cricket Council (GCC) Women's Twenty20 Championship (held in Oman in 2014 and in Qatar in 2015.
In June 2016, two teams from Australia's Women's Big Bash League (WBBL), the Sydney Sixers and the Sydney Thunder, toured the UAE for a training camp. They played a Twenty20 exhibition match at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Dubai, and were joined by three UAE national team players (Natasha Michael, Chaya Mughal, and Esha Oza), who filled in for injured players.
10-year-old girl picked for UAE under-19 women's cricket team
Esha James is only ten years old, but she has clinched a place in the UAE Under-19 team for the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Under-19 Women’s Cup to be played in Kuwait. Esha bats left-handed and bowls right arm medium pace and is the youngest member of the squad. I began playing from the age of five with my father (James Samuel). I live in the Gardens and my father is a member of the Gardens Cricket Club. Every Friday I go along with him and enjoy our holiday playing cricket. He taught me the basics of the game, remarked Esha, who is a Grade 6 student of Winchester School in Jebel Ali.
Samuel, sensing her keenness for the game, gave her all the encouragement she needed. “She liked cricket a lot and always came with me for the matches. Seeing me play she too began playing with the boys in the ground, he said.
Esha makes sure to watch all the cricket matches on television she can. “My favourite players are Dale Steyn, Jacques Kallis and Lasith Malinga. I want to be a good cricketer,” said Esha, who got picked up for the Under-19 trials in Sharjah following her performance in the Max Talent cricket tournament for girls.
I was thrilled to get coached by former Indian player Kalpana Venkatchar and UAE coaches Kabir Khan and Hyder at the camp. I am so excited at being picked from among the probables for the team, added Esha, who will leave for Kuwait for the eight-nation tournament starting on February 1.
