Street cricket to nationwide participation: How the South Asian diaspora built a cultural bridge to establish the game in Saudi Arabia

Standfirst: The game has gone from friendly matches on dusty fields and car parks to competitive fixtures and the National Cricket Championship By Rashid Hassan RIYADH: In the 1980s, sporadic friendly cricket matches began popping up on the streets of major Saudi Arabia cities as a weekend pastime for millions of expatriates from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Over the decades they would serve as a vital cultural bridge and community anchor for those who had made the Kingdom their home. Today, their impact has spread nationwide.