RIYADH: Even the best groundkeeper's skills would be lost on this grassless pitch in the Saudi capital Riyadh where Asian expats make the most of an improvised version of cricket.
“This ground is full of stones and everything,” said Kiran Ravi, 26, from India, blaming the sandy lot beside a shopping mall's parking lot for his team's slow run buildup on the first day of a tournament.
There are no carefully manicured grass pitches for cricketers in this city carved out of the desert. In Riyadh, there is hardly any grass at all.
The players make do with what they have: lots of asphalt or, in this case, the dangerous rock-strewn sand beside Granada Mall and the multi-lane roads that surround it.
Millions of expatriate workers from cricket-mad South Asia work in Saudi Arabia.
For the talented players among them, Ravi's Warriors and other teams offer a chance to relax, even without a normal pitch.
“You don't find anything like entertainment” in the ultra-conservative Islamic kingdom, said team-mate Vasant Warrier, 36.