Emirati businessman Abdul Rahman Bukhatir built a cricket stadium in Sharjah and, between 1981 and 1984, turned it into the first major neutral venue for international cricket — culminating in the inaugural 1984 Asia Cup.
Bukhatir had built a small private cricket facility in Sharjah in the late 1970s and expanded it into a 7,000-seat stadium by 1981.
The 1981 Hanif-Asif benefit was the first major international match; the 1984 Asia Cup was the first official tournament.
Bukhatir, a Sharjah businessman who had grown up in Karachi, recognised the commercial potential of cricket among the South Asian diaspora in the Gulf. In April 1981 he organised a benefit match for Hanif Mohammad and Asif Iqbal between a Sunil Gavaskar XI and a Javed Miandad XI at the newly built Sharjah Cricket Stadium — the first international match on the ground. The Cricketers Benefit Fund Series followed, paying out generous appearance fees that subcontinental boards could not match. In April 1984 the Asian Cricket Council, formed in 1983 with Bukhatir's backing, hosted the inaugural Asia Cup at Sharjah. India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka contested a round-robin which India won. The 1984 Asia Cup is the start of three decades of Sharjah cricket — venue of dozens of India-Pakistan matches, Javed Miandad's last-ball six off Chetan Sharma in 1986, and the regular safe haven for Pakistan home cricket after 2009. The Bukhatir model — neutral venue, generous appearance fees, broadcasting-friendly scheduling — also pre-figured the modern T20 league economics.
April 1981 Hanif-Asif benefit match
Cricketers Benefit Fund Series formalised
1983 Asian Cricket Council founded
April 1984 inaugural Asia Cup
India win the 1984 Asia Cup
Late 1970s
Sharjah ground built
April 1981
Hanif-Asif benefit; first international match
1983
Asian Cricket Council founded
April 1984
Inaugural Asia Cup; India win
1986
Miandad's last-ball six in Australasia Cup
“We will bring cricket to the Gulf and the world will come to Sharjah.”
“Without Sharjah, cricket's commercial age comes a decade later.”
The birth of cricket as a globalised, broadcast-led product, and the venue that for thirty years would be subcontinental cricket's neutral capital.
Sharjah is the prototype of the neutral, broadcast-friendly venue that would define the IPL era. Bukhatir's commercial model was decades ahead of its time.
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
Days after the 1934 Oval Test, Bradman fell seriously ill with appendicitis that progressed to peritonitis. With antibiotics not yet available, he was given little chance of survival; his wife Jessie left Adelaide on a sea voyage to England prepared for the worst. He recovered after weeks of intensive nursing in a London nursing home and returned to first-class cricket the following Australian summer.