{"id":453226,"date":"2026-03-02T07:24:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T07:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/453226\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T07:24:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T07:24:14","slug":"england-coach-jonny-bairstow-appeals-to-keir-starmer-after-cricket-team-stranded-in-dubai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/453226\/","title":{"rendered":"England coach Jonny Bairstow appeals to Keir Starmer after cricket team stranded in Dubai"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"England<\/p>\n

England coach Jonny Bairstow pleads for help after young cricketers stuck.<\/p>\n

Picture:
\nAlamy
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

England coach Jonny Bairstow has appealed for help after the England Lions squad found themselves stuck in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).<\/p>\n

The team had been in Dubai as the country’s international airport was targeted by Iranian drones and missiles, with videos showing smoke filling the terminal following yet another strike on the tourist hotspot. <\/p>\n

On Saturday,\u00a0the England Lions were forced to cancel their scheduled second 50-over match against Pakistan Shaheens which was scheduled to take place in Abu Dhabi over security concerns.<\/p>\n

Taking to social media on Sunday, Bairstow asked for help in assisting the stricken Lions squad.<\/p>\n

“If anyone has any intel in Dubai please reach out. Keep safe,” he wrote.<\/p>\n

Tagging Sir Keir Starmer in a separate post, he continued: “If anyone has any intel in Dubai please reach out… Stay safe… @britishembassyuae @keirstarmer”.<\/p>\n

Read more: LIVE: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei killed in US-Israel strike as blasts continue to rock Middle East<\/a><\/p>\n

Read more: Blasts continue across Middle East after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei killed in US-Israeli strikes<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Taking<\/p>\n

Taking to social media on Sunday, Bairstow asked for help in assisting the stricken Lions squad.<\/p>\n

Picture:
\nInstagram<\/p>\n

It comes after the England and Wales Cricket Board announced on Saturday evening that the game which was planned to take place at the Zayed Cricket Stadium would not take place.<\/p>\n

Travel arrangements for England Women’s trip to Abu Dhabi next week also delayed.<\/p>\n

It comes as footballing legend Graeme Souness was among the Brits caught up in the conflict in the Middle East following attacks by Iran.<\/p>\n

Souness, a former Rangers and Liverpool manager, posted two videos on Instagram from Zayed International Airport in Abu Dhabi as he attempted to return to the UK.<\/p>\n

\"England<\/p>\n

England Lions wicketkeeper Craig Kieswetter during International Twenty20 Friendly at the Dubai Sports City, UAE.<\/p>\n

Picture:
\nAlamy
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m hearing some pretty loud bangs go off and that is anti-missiles taking out missiles that have been fired at some American bases,\u201d said Souness in the opening video.<\/p>\n

An update then followed, with the 72-year-old saying: \u201cFlight\u2019s been cancelled, still hearing explosions so we\u2019ve given up, we\u2019re just going to check into a hotel for a couple of nights and see where we are.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully things will settle down and we\u2019ll get back on the flight. You get grumpy when you get delays and stuff at airports but I think we should think of people that maybe this time are dying.\u201d<\/p>\n

One person has been killed at Zayed International Airport, with others also injured there and at Dubai International Airport, while thousands of flights remain grounded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"England coach Jonny Bairstow pleads for help after young cricketers stuck. Picture: Alamy England coach Jonny Bairstow has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":453227,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-453226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-cricket","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=453226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/453227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}