England in United Arab Emirates 2022/23

The Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) oversees the sport within the United Arab Emirates, an Associate Member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) since 1990. The governing body traces its origins to 1936. The nation does not host a singular top-tier domestic league akin to the English County Championship. Instead, the landscape features the International League T20 (ILT20), a franchise-based tournament established in 2022. Alongside this, the domestic Emirates D-Series operates, utilising regional representative teams in a round-robin plus knockout format.

England’s cricketing engagements in the region serve distinct purposes beyond direct competition with the host national side. The senior England men's team has never faced the UAE in a bilateral series. Encounters have been limited to ICC tournament matches, including the 1996 and 2015 World Cups, as well as a non-cap T20 warm-up in 2015. Recent tours to the Gulf, such as those in 2024, 2022, and 2015, were primarily conducted for playing Pakistan as a neutral venue or for acclimatisation training before travels to India.

The England Lions, the national A-team, have engaged in unofficial series against the UAE. In December 2016, the Lions played an ODI series in Dubai, winning three matches. The UAE’s primary distinction in global cricket lies in its role as a neutral hub for international fixtures and its development of associate cricket structures.