Dubai: Dubai's status as an east-meets-west business hub is being rivalled in the world of sport with cricket's state-of-the-art academy, also a home for Pakistan's international brigade.
Set up by the International Cricket Council (ICC), in company with Dubai Sports City (DSC) in 2010, the Global Cricket Academy (GCA) caters for players from around the world. Tim Anderson, the ICC global development manager, said the academy is the hub of the game's development.

"The ICC's vision, together with DSC, was to develop a world-class, multi-purpose facility, and then provide a wide variety of programmes that could see anybody from the global and local cricket community use them," Anderson said.
Maqbool Dudhia, general manager of DSC, said the academy is fulfilling those objectives.
"The idea is to be a cricketing hub for the world, something that suits it perfectly given the UAE's geographical location in relation to the rest of the cricketing world, and we are delighted it has not only fulfilled that objective but exceeded it," said Dudhia.
Since the academy opened, 24 of the ICC's members -- including Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, England, the West Indies, as well as a number of English county teams -- have used the facilities for either camps, training or matches.
The GCA and the adjoining Dubai Stadium have also become home for the Pakistan team which is forced to play their international cricket in the UAE because of security fears back home.