UAE's Shaiman Anwar, bowlers demolish PNG

Abu Dhabi - The hosts won the T20 series 3-0

The UAE notched a historic T20 series whitewash after winning back-to-back matches against Papua New Guinea at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Friday.
The 3-0 series win also saw the UAE batsman score a maiden century. The UAE won their second T20 by 30 runs and third by five wickets to complete PNG rout.
In the first match, Shaiman Anwar rescued the UAE innings after dependable Rohan Mustafa and Mohammed Naveed fell cheaply to Norman Vanua in the first over.
In the process, Anwar scored his maiden T20 century. The 38-year-old smashed his century in just 60 balls. His innings was a collection of 10 boundaries and six towering maximums.
Anwar was in devastating form and took special liking to Assad Vala, taking him for three sixes in a row. He scored 29 runs from 12 deliveries from Vala.
Anwar also clubbed Reva, Gavera and Vanua each for six and three boundaries. Most of his monstrous sixes were towards mid-wicket region. Anwar shared 109-run unbeaten fourth-wicket partnership with Rameez Shahzad taking the UAE from 71 in 9.3 overs to 180.
The total bettered the UAE's previous highest total by a run. The UAE had previously scored 179 for loss of four wickets against Afghanistan in Dubai last December. Interestingly, Anwar was top-scorer for the UAE with 60 runs. On Friday's first match Anwar finished with 117 runs from 68 balls.
PNG got to a superb start as openers Tony Ura and Lega Siaka scored 42 runs in just 3.3 overs. Both were, however, caught by Mustafa off Amjad Javed.
Mustafa bowled Vala with a straight one and Ahmed Raza got Dai for 5. Yet, the match was well-poised at half-way stage with PNG at 90 for loss of four wickets and 91 needed from remaining 10 overs. Sese Bau and Jack Vare threatened with 34-run partnership.
However, Bau was run out and new batsman Reva was bowled for one by Imran Haider. Then, Javed got Vare and Mohammad Naveed picked three lower-order players to clinch the series.
Learning from their mistake in the final match of the day, PNG opted to bat first after winning the toss but unfortunately slipped to another loss. PNG openers Ura (29) and Siaka (31) started well putting a 54-run partnership. The openers took boundaries off both Raza and Javed. It was skipper Rohan Mustafa who got Ura out in the eighth over. Ahmed Raza then got Siaka in 11th over.
The UAE bowlers kept batsmen on tight leash with regular wickets to restrict PNG to 128. While chasing, there was a mini-collapse with Vanua again dealing double blows in the first over with wickets of Mustafa and Sreekumar. Anwar was out in the first ball of next over and the UAE were six for loss of three wickets. It was then that Muhammad Usman (58 runs) and Rameez Shahzad (47) built a 100-run partnership to take the UAE to 106 runs in 16 over. The UAE went on to reach the target with five balls to spare. Twenty20 series scalp is icing over the long-awaited Intercontinental Cup match and one-day series victories. UAE cricket is truly on the move.
ashwani@khaleejtimes.com