Upcoming UAE cricketer plays for Australia in Sharjah warm-up match

SHARJAH // A Dubai-based personal banking officer will have a new story to regale his clients with when he returns to his desk on Sunday morning.

Whether they choose to believe Saqlain Haider that he spent his Friday off-day keeping wicket to Mitchell Johnson and co as part of the Australian cricket team, though, is perhaps unlikely.

It may seem a far-fetched yarn, but that was just what played out on Day 3 of the tour match against the A side from his native Pakistan at Sharjah Cricket Stadium.

Brad Haddin, Australia’s regular, was granted a day of rest and recuperation. He had kept for 90 overs on Wednesday’s opening day, then had a fairly lengthy workout with the bat on the second when Australia batted.

With no back-up wicketkeeper in the squad for the tour here, Australia reverted to the local cricket scene to enlist some help.

Haider, who works for United Bank Limited in Dubai, had a bruised left hand to show for his day’s work, some team-issue Australia kit, plus some memories which, presumably, will last a lifetime.

“This was the first time I had faced the pace of bowlers like Johnson and Mitchell Starc,” said Haider, who is eyeing a place in the UAE squad for next year’s World Cup.

“It was one of the big experiences in my life. I was feeling very proud to wear this shirt, and am very thankful to the Australian management for letting me play with them.”

Haider was mobbed by his temporary teammates when he held a catch at the wicket off Nathan Lyon to dismiss Shan Masood for the first wicket of the day.

Given the toil the bowlers faced on a featherbed wicket in Sharjah, Lyon was grateful to have such an adept ally to swoop on the sharp chance.

“He was brilliant,” Lyon said of his stop-gap teammate. “He provided a lot of energy, even in a trial-game sense. He took a absolute screamer of a catch off myself. It is difficult to take a catch when it bounces so much but he gloved them really well.

“He should be really happy with himself. I know all the boys are around him in the change room right now and he is enjoying himself, that’s for sure.”

The opportunity for Haider to swap allegiance to Australia for the day came about when Rod Marsh, Australia’s chairman of selectors, called in a favour from some old friends.

Marsh once was the director of cricket at the ICC Academy in Dubai, and he leant on some local knowledge to get Haddin a day off.

He asked Aaqib Javed, the UAE coach, if he knew of any good glovemen. Aaqib said he knew just the man, even though Haider is not even the national team’s first-choice wicketkeeper.

“Rod asked if we could give them a keeper for a day,” said Aaqib, the former Pakistan seam bowler. “I told them we had a really talented keeper, who I would send across if he could watch him and give him some tips.

“Rod Marsh was watching him, so was the Pakistan team manager Moin Khan, as well as Saleem Yousuf, another former Pakistan wicketkeeper, who is the manager of their A team.

“There were three keepers looking at him, so it was a really good opportunity for him to show his talent. And they were really impressed by him.”

Ironically, Haider played his first matches in UAE colours while in Australia last month on a World Cup warm-up tour.

As one of four keepers in that squad, he had the gloves for only two matches on tour, and is regarded as back-up to Swapnil Patil.

“I think he is a fantastic talent,” Aaqib said. “Saqlain is our future. He is young and I can foresee Saqlain playing for the next 10 years for the UAE.”

Haider’s temporary membership of the Australian cricket team was not the first time a UAE cricketer has undertaken a quick allegiance alteration.

Back in 2009, Naeemuddin Aslam and Vikrant Shetty both answered an emergency call to help out New Zealand during an availability crisis here.

The two India-born batsmen took a phone call at their office desks to see if they had their spikes with them.

Luckily, each had their kit-bags in their car, so they had enough time to get to Dubai Sports City to act as 12th men for New Zealand in a Twenty20 international against Pakistan.

pradley@thenational.ae

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