Administrator(s) Sport 360 Host(s) United Arab Emirates | Cricket format Twenty20 | |
Dates 17 October 2014 (2014-10-17) – 14 February 2015 (2015-02-14) Tournament format(s) Round robin and Knockout Champions GEMS Modern Academy (U13) - Abu Dhabi Indian School (U15) | ||
Overview
The league was endorsed by the Emirates Cricket Board, entry for schools opened and the league was populated within the first few months of organisation. A dedicated website was created to provide a variety of media coverage through an online platform. The first match began on the 17th of October 2014 with the grand final taking place on 14 February 2015.
Contents
Preceding the start of the league was a press conference held at the ICC Global Academy, with invitations sent out to all of the schools participating. It was led by title sponsors Unilever and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, David East the chief of the Emirates Cricket Board, Michael Chalhoub CEO of Sport 360 and several high-ranking members of the ICC Academy.
General numeric data for 2014/2015
Locations for 2014/2015
Format
The format is similar to the Indian Premier League system in which the teams play a round-robin phase followed by a round of 16 straight knockout phase.
Regions consisted of Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Dubai group 1, and Dubai group 2.
The round robin tournament was region specific. Group leaders at the end of the stage would have a bye through the first round of playoffs with second and third place from the round robin tournament playing again to decide progression.
After the first stage of playoffs, the group leaders would play the progressing team in the quarterfinal. Dubai was an exception, with the quarterfinal crossing over the teams due to having two groups.
Semifinals were cross regional and used a random ballot draw to decide which teams would play against each other for a spot in the Grand final.
The ICC Global Academy hosted the quarterfinals, semifinals and final matches with Throwmotion providing entertainment in the form of a tabletop cricket game.