Desert Cubs to build an oasis in Lanka
Ten teams will go down in history books as being proud participants of the inaugural Desert Cubs Invitational Junior Cricket Tournament which is set to take place at four cricketing venues from coming Wednesday. The tournament organised and conducted by the Desert Cubs Cricket Academy in the United Arab Emirates will see five teams each contesting in the Under-15 and Under17 age categories.
When the Desert Cubs visited Sri Lanka last time to play ‘friendlies’
The teams contesting for the Under-15 competition are hosts Desert Cubs CA, St. Peter’s College, Trinity College, Ananda College and St. Anne’s College Kurunegala. Deserts Cubs CA will field another team alongside St. Sebastian’s College Moratuwa, Thurstan College, Royal College and CCC School of Cricket in the Under-17 competition. Two games each will be held daily at two venues in both competitions with the final set to take place between the top two teams from the five-teamed group next Monday.
Presley Polonowita, the founder CEO and head coach of Desert Cubs CA, launching the tournament in Sri Lanka stated that his objective through the academy was to set a benchmark in the industry of sports. Sports, besides its tradition has other potentials as a business. “When I inaugurated the Desert Cubs CA in 2007, there were only 10 boys and a girl. Today, after seven years we have closer to 1000 students including three from the original batch. This is a wonderful way of progressing towards the future.”
“To make thing more viable we thought of giving international exposure to our youngsters besides the competitions we hold within the academy. The valuable experience, gathered by the students is going to be tremendous in their future preparations to further their 
aspirations in competitive cricket. The students would get to play in vastly different environments and conditions, weather patterns, play away from the usual surroundings and they would gain valuable in-depth knowledge about the various factors mentioned as they would be pitted against more tough opponents who are veterans on these conditions. The Desert Cubs have toured previously to countries like England, South Africa, Malaysia and Sri Lanka but on other programmes. This will be the first time the Desert Cubs will be seen in a tournament,” Polonowita, a former first class cricketer from Sri Lanka, said.
The Desert Cubs CA formed in 2007 by the former Sri Lanka Youth cricketer Polonowita today is a well reputed sports facilitator in the UAE. It has expanded its wings from cricket to badminton and swimming and hopes to introduce more sports as at moves forward. At present more than 40 qualified Level I and II coaches are employed at Desert Cubs CA. Interestingly the chieftain of the sporting institution Polonowita, being a banker is a part-timer.
“We are one of the largest cricket academies in UAE, providing training to various nationalities from age groups of six to 19 years. We also provide cricket training for Universities, Corporate teams, event management and tours for companies based in UAE and our approach is highly professional. We have three centres in Sharjah, Diera and Jumierah on rent but we are planning on launching our own fully-fledged facility centre very soon. We have our office in Sri Lanka which plans sports tourism tours and other recreational tours besides promoting the academy. Our latest addition to the fleet is the introduction of the DC Legends, our own brand of cricketing gears,” Polonowita added.
With the intention of strengthening cricketing bonds between his native country Sri Lanka and the UAE, Polonowita initiated the Desert Cub CA’s student exchange and scholarship programmes at the same occasion. Two young cricketers – Melshan Perera from St. Anne’s College and Mehalka de Silva from St. Peter’s College – who are part of the Sri Lanka Under-17 squad were the two recipients to earn the honour.
“The two cricketers will be looked after for a period of one year with regard to equipment and other needs by the Desert Cubs CA. They will also visit our facilities in the UAE for a two-week training programme under the Desert Cubs CA coaching staff. Simultaneously two youngsters from the Desert Cubs CA will take part in training programmes conducted in Sri Lanka at selected schools and academies,” Polonowita, with more planned for the future went on to say.
| Under-17 Schedule
August 20: St. Sebastian’s vs Thurstan at Royal ground, Desert Cubs vs CCC at Colts Under-15 Schedule August 20: Trinity vs St. Peter’s at Bloomfield, Ananda vs Desert Cubs at BRC |