The United Arab Emirates launched, Abu Dhabi T10 a cricket league owned by T Ten Sports Management. The league since its inaugural, 2017 edition has seen significant year-on-year growth in viewership and economic value.
The upcoming, 6th edition of the Abu Dhabi T10 League is set to run from the 22nd of November to the 4th of December at Abu Dhabi Cricket and Sports Hub. For the season, Team Abu Dhabi have re-signed assistant coach, Sarah Taylor.
Paul Farbrace who’s also returning as Team Abu Dhabi head coach for this year’s edition, on Sarah Taylor’s re-signing said, “Sarah did a brilliant job last year and I thought her passion and her energy around the team was outstanding. I’m looking forward to seeing her expand on what she did last year, and I think she’ll bring even more innovation and have an even greater impact on the team this year.”
Late in October last year, former England wicket-keeper-batter, Sarah Taylor, became the first woman coach in men’s professional franchise cricket after she was named assistant coach of Team Abu Dhabi for the Abu Dhabi T10 league during its previous, 5th edition.
Sarah Taylor then on her contract with Team Abu Dhabi said, “Coming into this franchise world, you get players and coaches coming in from all around the world where it may not necessarily be the norm. But I’d love to think that some young girl or some woman watching can see me in the coaching team and realize that’s an opportunity and they can push for it, saying ‘If she can do it, why can’t I?
“I do hope that it becomes a little more normal and I may be the first but I won’t be the last. Coaching is my passion and it’s kind of going down the men’s route, which is really exciting. I’ve never had issues in male environments and I enjoy the challenge. You always want to prove that you’re good enough, but that’s the same for any coach going into a new environment.”
For 2nd time in a row, Sarah Taylor will continue as an assistant coach for Team Abu Dhabi 🔥😍#CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/zsbAGX3dnp
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) September 25, 2022
Sarah Taylor made her debut in 2006 and featured in 10 Tests, 126 ODIs and 90 T20Is for England before announcing her international retirement in 2019. She then returned to professional cricket during the 2021 summer to feature in The Hundred and the Women’s Twenty20 Cup in the UK.
In her 226 international appearances, she went on to score just over 6500 runs across all three formats of the game. She was the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year thrice, and in 2014 was the Women’s ODI cricketer of the year and a two-time World Champion, having won the ICC Women’s World Cup in 2009 and 2017.
Sarah Taylor further continued, “It came completely out of the blue and it was an amazing surprise. I’ve been counting down the days until I can get to Abu Dhabi and get going. I cannot wait. As soon as I found out who the staff was, that made it even more exciting and it was a lightbulb moment that I would be stupid to miss out on the opportunity.
“I’ve got so much to learn, they’ve probably got so much to tell me and I’m very much going to be a sponge. I’ll have to be. I’m going to sit there with a notebook and write as much as I can. They know that as well, and will teach me so much as I’m at the start of my coaching career.”
Sarah Taylor is by far the best-ever wicket-keeper and she went on to become the first woman specialist coach at a men’s county side with Sussex in the United Kingdom and also is a coach at Bede’s School in the UK.