Emirates Shares ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 Trophy

Emirates Shares ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 Trophy With Dubai’s Street Players

Emirates airline - an Official ICC Partner – this week shared the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 trophy with street players in Dubai to celebrate the final countdown to the start of the event.

With just a month until the cricket carnival gets under way on February 19, a group of lucky cricket fans got to see the trophy that all top competing teams dream of lifting in Mumbai on April 2.

The airline’s own cricket team – Fly Emirates – took the trophy to a makeshift pitch in Jumeirah, just one of the hundreds that spring up on patches of desert across Dubai every week, and played a challenge match against a group of local players.

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Against the distinctive backdrop of the Sheikh Zayed Road skyline, Fly Emirates, a team of talented employees of the Emirates Group who juggle busy jobs with a packed cricket schedule, ran out winners after a closely contested game.

It was an unforgettable day for the street players who posed for pictures with the trophy, while the man of the match was presented a shirt and bat signed by Kings XI Punjab, the IPL side which Emirates sponsors.

“An everlasting image of Dubai is seeing thousands of cricketers playing on desert pitches every week,” said Sir Maurice Flanagan, Executive Vice Chairman, Emirates Airline & Group. “A heavy ball – the same size as a tennis ball - makeshift stumps and an old bat transform almost every spare plot of land in Dubai into a meeting place where friends gather to get their cricket fix. It is a way of life for them and captures the spirit of the game perfectly.”

ENDS

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