Saudi Arabian Cricket Federation (SACF), in collaboration with Saudi Sports for All Federation (SFA), have launched the 2021 T20 National Championships that runs from January 29th until April-end.
11 cities (Riyadh, Dammam, Jubail, Jeddah, Madinah, Yanbu, Tabuk, Abha, Jazan, Qassim and Najran) will be hosting the 11-week National Cricket Championship, that will see close to 7000 players take part in the competition, with 350+ teams in the fray.
Nadeem Nadwi, SACF general manager, said “Cricket has been played in Saudi Arabia by the expatriate community of the subcontinent since the 1960s. However, organized cricket started in 1976 with the formation of three major cricket associations in Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam.
In 2003, the Saudi Cricket Center was established under the patronage of Princess Ghada bint Hamoud bin Abdul Aziz to promote and develop the game at grassroots level and pave the way for a Saudi presence in international cricket. The response from Saudi youth has been overwhelming, and with cricket now included in the Asian Games, it’s only a matter of time before the game makes its mark among Saudis,” he concluded.
Saudi Cricket team will be taking part in the T20 World Cup Asia sub-regional qualifiers in UAE in April 2021. Saudi Arabia won their most recent tournament during ACC Western Region T20 held in 2019 in Oman.
