Playing to Fix: How Deception and Corruption Wiped Out UAE's Cricket World Cup Dream

Playing to Fix tells the story of a group of Dubai street cricketers who chased down the dream of international cricket, working their way from dusty, tape-ball cricket on desert pitches to the international stage and almost reaching the pinnacle of world cricket … only to throw it all away by being drawn into the murky world of match fixing.

This is the story of the United Arab Emirates team, who were on the brink of qualifying for the 2019 T20 World Cup in England. Instead of making it to the finals, a number of the players were seduced by the illegal betting syndicates operating across in the Indian subcontinent. They fell from the incredible high of competing against – and in some cases beating – the world's best cricketers, to the shattering low of being caught by the ICC's anti-corruption unit for match fixing, resulting in lengthy bans and a very public humiliation.

With unprecedented insight and access to those fighting to rid cricket of fixing, experienced cricket writer and award-winning journalist Paul Radley lifts the lid on this incredible story. He explains how cricket's ruling bodies caught the cheats; details the secret meeting on a Dubai beach, which descended into chaos, violence and ultimately saw the team drawn into the scandal; and tells a story so bizarre it includes bogus sponsors, Siberian huskies, the team being evicted from a hotel and a cross-border search for an AWOL wicketkeeper.

Paul Radley is an award-winning sportswriter based in Dubai, where he works for The National newspaper. His work has also appeared in a number of other publications, including the Wisden Almanack, The Telegraph, The Cricketer, and ESPNcricinfo. Before starting out in journalism, he briefly worked for the ICC at Lord's, nearly set the shredder on fire, and was not invited back. Playing to Fix is his first book.