Fly Emirates receive the trophy, sponsors' awards and winners' cheque for US$4000 after 51 matches over 51 days under lights at the ICC Global Cricket Academy

ICC GCA Operations Manager Salman Hanif: "We achieved our aim of giving teams something they had never experienced before at our world's-best facility… Now we are looking to expand by including more teams"

The success of the inaugural TNT Arabian Cricket League (TNT ACL) is set to lead to an expansion of the tournament for future editions, it was announced today.

This season's event saw 16 corporate and club teams battle for honours in Twenty20 action under the floodlights of the ICC Global Cricket Academy (ICC GCA), with 51 matches over 51 days.

Fly Emirates eventually prevailed, beating the Yogi Group by three wickets in a thrilling final late last month, and on Sunday they received the trophy, as well as sponsors' awards and a cheque for US$ 4000.

But such was the enthusiasm of players and teams for the TNT ACL that plans are already being put together to produce an even bigger event next season.

ICC GCA Operations Manager Salman Hanif said: "When we started planning the TNT Arabian Cricket League, our idea was to give cricketers something they had never experienced before.

"We achieved that aim by providing each team with a minimum of six matches and the chance to play under lights at our world's-best facility.

"Now, with the high level of interest in what we have done, we are looking to expand the competition for future editions.

"This is likely to involve more teams, two parallel events featuring amateur and emerging teams in one and Division A and Division B sides in another.

"We are also looking to introduce quarter-finals, something we were not able to feature this season because of the need to have the facility ready for the Pakistan and England cricket teams.

"The expansion and division of the next ACL will allow players to get even more competitive cricket in a wonderful environment. It reflects the popularity of this inaugural edition and our desire to make this fantastic facility at the ICC Global Cricket Academy as accessible as possible to as many people as possible.

"We would like to thank TNT for its superb support of the TNT ACL. That support has played a vital role in ensuring the tournament's success. And congratulations to all the teams and especially Fly Emirates, the winners of the tournament."

Mark Pell, Country General Manager for TNT Express UAE, said: "It has been wonderful to see the success of the inaugural TNT Arabian Cricket League and we have been delighted to play a part in helping to ensure that success.

"Cricket is such a popular sport around the region, especially in the Asian community, and that fact, together with the enthusiasm of many of our employees to take part, convinced us that supporting the event was the right thing to do.

"We are pleased to have done so and offer our congratulations to Fly Emirates on becoming the inaugural champions as well as all the teams that took part."

Maqbul Dudhia, Dubai Sports City (DSC) General Manager – Sports Business said: "The TNT ACL has been a superb tournament which has showcased the ICC Global Cricket Academy's magnificent outdoor facilities.

"The event has fitted ideally with Dubai Sports City's vision of being a hub of sporting activity in the Emirate and we look forward to it going from strength to strength."

Runner-up the Yogi Group receives US$2000, as well as a trophy and sponsors' awards.

The two losing semi-finalists, Transworld and Phoenix Medicine, receive year-long subscriptions to Sport 360, the English language daily sports newspaper and a media partner of DSC.

Support for the tournament came not only from TNT Express and Sport360, but also from MCC Mobile Chef Caterers and Radio 4, DSC's Radio Partner.

The participating teams in the inaugural TNT Arabian Cricket League were: ACE Cricket Club, Barclays, BTB Veterans, Digi Photo Hunters, Dubai Bank, Dubai Lions, Du Telecom, Farooq Cricket Club, Fly Emirates, HSBC, Interface Transworld, Phoenix Medicines, Sport 360, TNT Express, Yogi Group, and Zahara PCL.