ABU DHABI, Mar. 26th, 2009: The world-class Lashings World XI was launched Wednesday in a press conference at the Emirates Palace ahead of the Lashing’s Twenty20 Cricket Festival, which starts today Thursday.
The week long event which is being organized by the iconic Emirates Palace under the patronage of H.E Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak al-Nahyan forms part of efforts by Emirates Palace to support Abu Dhabi as the cultural centre of the Middle East and Emirates Palace as the flagship and iconic landmark of Abu Dhabi hosting prestigious sporting events to the ever growing cultural social calendar of Abu Dhabi.
The famous Lashings tour party is led by founder and chairman David Folb and comprises a constellation of international players who will enthrall cricket enthusiasts at the matches to be held on Emirates Palace lawn pitch between 26 and 29 March.
Folb expressed confidence that Lashing team would give a wonderful performance on the Emirates Palace East Lawn pitch which he described as more than wonderful.
“When you have Graeme Hick, Stuart Law, Saqlain Mushtaq, Devon Malcolm, Damien Martin and other internationals playing under the captaincy of Chris Harris, anything is possible,” he said.
The iconic Emirates Palace, with its magnificent setting and palatial back-drop, provides a world class wicket to host the Lashings World X1 team for the Second Annual Cricket Festival from March 24-31.
Commentary on the Lashing matches will be provided by world renowned veteran sports journalist Henry Blofeld (AKA Blowers) who is best known as a cricket commentator for the Test Match Specials on BBC, with more than 500 Test Matches to his credit. Blowers epitomizes the historical institution that is cricket and relays the game to his audience in a highly amusing manner.
World XI Abu Dhabi Teams
Lashings XI: Alvin Kallicharran, Chris Harris, Adam Hollioake, Philp DeFreitas, Jimmy Adams, Devon Malcolm, Brendon Taylor, Chris Cairns, Chris Silverwood, Grant Flower, Graeme Hick, Rashid Latif, Marvan Atapattu and Ed Giddins.
Chairman’s XI: Saqib Ali, Alawi Shukri, Sajjad Ahmad, Arshad Ali, Amjad Javed, Irfan Haider, Khurram Khan, Mohammad Iqbal, Prasanth Braggs, Amjad Ali, Fayaz Ahmad, Haroon Iftiqar, Fahad Al Hashimi and Waqas Alwi.
The fixtures for the Lashings World XI matches which will all be 20/Twenty format, starting at 2pm daily, are as follows:
Thursday 26th March – LASHINGS WORLD CRICKET XI v Henry Blofeld Select XI Friday 27th March – LASHINGS WORLD CRICKET XI v ME Cricket Magazine Select XI Saturday 28th March – LASHINGS WORLD CRICKET XI v Emirates Palace XI Sunday 29th March – Emirates Palace XI v Media XI
History of Lashings
The Lashings cricket team’s began with a chance encounter in 1984, Maidstone-based businessman David Folb was in the Lashings Bar and Restaurant on a Saturday night when he heard about the plight of the nearby Minstrel Wine Bar’s cricket team, who had a match scheduled the following day but had just lost their opposition.
Not wanting to see them miss out on their Sunday afternoon fixture, Folb appointed himself captain and wicketkeeper, made a few calls and assembled an opposition.
A motley crew of customers, friends, solicitors, bank managers and even Lashings restaurant manager John Tobin (an Irishman who had never played cricket in his life, and indeed hasn’t since!) were roped in to play and appeared the following day in the less-than-idyllic surroundings of Mote Park. It wasn’t quite a dream start for Folb’s new venture though, as the team that were to become known as Lashings fell short by a mere 294 runs! However, the experience was enough for Folb’s band of merry men to catch the bug and soon there were enough personnel to be able to put out a village team on a regular basis for several years, eventually reaching the dizzy heights of the Maidstone and District Riverside League!
