Junior cricketers get chance to be part of the action

Anyone looking closely at the coin toss ahead of Friday's One-Day International between Pakistan and Sri Lanka at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium at Dubai Sports City will have noticed the two captains were not the only ones wearing playing gear.

Seven-year-old Sri Lanka youngster Nivane Jinadasa was also in the midst of the action alongside Misbah-ul-Haq and Tillakaratne Dilshan.

Nivane, from Abu Dhabi, is a young player from the ICC Global Cricket Academy's Junior Warriors coaching programme and the chance to be a mascot at the match at Dubai Sports City was a reward for his efforts in that programme.

Two more young cricketers will join the captains in the middle ahead of the matches on 14 and 18 November.

The youngsters have been chosen by the programme's coaches on the basis of their passion for the game, their promise as cricketers and their nationalities, matching it with one of the teams involved in the action.

There are over 400 children taking part in ICC Global Cricket Academy cricket courses throughout the United Arab Emirates with sessions at the ICC GCA headquarters at Dubai Sports City as well as satellite sessions in Abu Dhabi, Deira and Jebel Ali.

Junior Warriors are children between the ages of five and 12, with the best among them forming the Silver Warriors.

A further group from the ages of 11 to 18 is known as the Senior Warriors, with the elite among them known as the Gold Warriors.

Details of the coaching sessions available and their timings can be found at www.iccgca.com or by calling the ICC GCA reception on +971 4 448 1355.

The three ODI matches between Pakistan and Sri Lanka at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium are all part of 34 days of international action as DSC hosts its biggest season of cricket since the venue opened in 2009.

Already the Dubai International Cricket Stadium has staged the second Test of the three-match series between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, with Pakistan winning that encounter by nine wickets.

And after this ODI series, England arrives in January 2012 to face Pakistan in two Tests, two ODIs and two T20Is over a two-month period.

In March 2012 the Dubai International Cricket Stadium will host matches in the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier.