The first game, between Ireland and Pakistan, was attritional. The Pakistani women managed to claw their way to a respectable 183 for nine from their fifty overs. a total which proved to be excellent when the Irish had folded for 73 after 31 overs of scratchy struggling. The second game never happened, and the third is drawing to its conclusion as I write: Pakistan are 88 for three in pursuit of South Africa's 125.
Presumably, the whole idea of this tournament is to appeal to locals, and to introduce them to the game. A similar experiment was conducted in Morocco with a men's tri-series that also involved Pakistan; the stunning Tangier stadium now appears to be half-way to becoming a housing estate, judging by Google Earth's images. But at least those games involved an exciting brand of cricket, and players like Shahid Afridi to make an impression on any local who took a wrong turn and happened to turn up and watch.
The same cannot be said for Qatar. I understand that women's cricket is a very different game to the men's, but even with a focus on working the gaps, these Qatari matches look pretty unwatchable. Of over 1000 deliveries so far in the two matches, only three have reached the boundary. Three. One each for Javeria Khan (against South Africa), Nida Dar (against Ireland) and Qanita Jalil (also against Ireland). The South Africans went for 50 overs without hitting a single one.
A simple search for "Qatar cricket" yields the Qatar Cricket Association website. In pride of place, front and centre, is a slideshow of images. These images include: Graeme Smith celebrating a double-ton (right), Andrew Flintoff celebrating an Ashes hundred, Sachin Tendulkar playing a cover-drive, and Shahid Afridi playing exactly the kind of shot you'd associate with him.
The first Qatari cricketers do not emerge until the fifth image in the slideshow.
Also to be found on the home-page are inaccurate rankings that feature Australia and Sri Lanka as the top two teams in the world, a poll that poses the question "Shall MSDhoni is the best captain?" (sic), an ESPNcricinfo RSS feed, and an article about His Excellence the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Qatar, who just so happens to be the cricket chairman too.
Maintaining a decent cricket website is not a difficult thing, no matter how unusual it seems to be. Indeed, for my business course last year, I created a website for a fictional San Marino Cricket Federation which I personally think advertises the game far better - and it's for an organisation that doesn't even exist! (And for the record, I never expected to do anything other than delete that site.)
My point is thus: if you want to make cricket appeal to the general public, as the QCA has obviously gone to great expense to do, I personally don't think you could do it much worse. I can only hope that the work going on by the individuals in the organisation is of a far higher standard.