Late night cricket finishes do not put public off in the UAE

Maybe it was the Sharjah effect. Maybe it was the fact the series was so deliciously balanced. Or perhaps the lion's share of employers in the emirate had suddenly come over all amenable, and told their employees they could breeze in whenever they fancied yesterday morning. Whatever it was, the 8,000 strong crowd who stayed until 2am yesterday morning to watch Pakistan against Australia confirmed that staging international cricket at the most antisocial times the sport has ever known was not such a ludicrous idea after all. For years now the ICC have been trying to bring day-night Test cricket into being, in a bid to arrest dwindling attendances in that format. The idea that 50-over cricket is in such drastic need of saving does not have quite so much currency, but cricket fans have still been given a glimpse of what the future might look like of late. Over the past week or so in late summer in the UAE, we have been presented with something novel. Forget about day-night cricket, or even that antiquated nonsense of an 11am start: the future is all about all night cricket. And on this evidence, against all probability, 6pm starts and 2am finishes for one-day international cricket could prove workable - even on a work night. "There was a lot of talk before we arrived about starting the games so late, are people going to come and watch?" said Michael Clarke , the victorious Australia captain. "I think the crowds have been amazing. It is really unfortunate we don't get the opportunity to go to Pakistan, but it is fortunate we still get the chance to play against such a good team in the UAE. This series has shown cricket has a bright future in the UAE." There have been a lot of firsts in this limited-overs series. It has been the first time one-day matches have been scheduled to take up two days in the calendar. The second match in Abu Dhabi was also the first time an ODI had spread over two months - starting as it did in August and ending in September. It has been a new challenge - to borrow from the lexicon of the modern international cricketer - for everyone. The groundsmen have been rolling the wicket after dark, so as not to scorch the earth with a heavy metal roller. The between-innings dinner break was nearer to a midnight feast. Instead of isotonic energy drinks and bananas being ferried out to the players by the 12th men, they were probably being given black coffee (iced, of course) and ProPlus. Then there were the post-match formalities, which might as well have been served with breakfast. An audience with Pakistan's insouciant captain Misbah-ul-Haq could never be mistaken for a rave-up, even when he is at his very most effusive. Yet when he enters a press conference with the clock showing 3am, it is definitely time to lodge the eyelids open with matchsticks. It was not surprising that Clarke, as the winning captain, could see the positives of the unsociable schedule in the immediate aftermath of the series, even if he was going to be deprived of more sleep before his 10.15am flight back to Sydney yesterday. His opposite number, however, was somewhat more circumspect, pointing out that the antisocial playing hours had been an invention of necessity. "Just because of the conditions we were forced to play at these times," Misbah said."A normal start time would have caused a problem for players, officials and the organisers, but ideally we would play [earlier in the day]." The fact Australia triumphed in such extreme conditions might also prove a seminal moment in the development of what remains and inexperienced side and arrived here on the back of a hiding in England. "The heat, especially in game two, is like something we have never encountered," said George Bailey, Australia's Twenty20 captain. "As a group, to get through that and know you can bat in those conditions and as a bowler that you can concentrate for the full 50 overs is important." Follow us & Paul Radley

Late night cricket finishes do not put public off in the UAE

The healthy crowd numbers, despite the unsociable hours for the series in the UAE, impressed many, including Michael Clarke.