UAE cruise past Papua New Guinea

UAE batsman Amjad Ali on his way to a half century against Papua New Guinea. — Cricket Australia

Dubai — The UAE, qualifiers for the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup, defeated Papua New Guinea (PNG) by seven wickets with 10 balls to spare, at the Gardens Oval in Darwin, on Thursday. The UAE saw the islanders pile up a decent 267-7 from their allotment of 50 overs after sending them in to bat.

In-form batsmen — Amjad Ali (56 from 55 balls with eight 4s); keeper-batsman Swapnil Patil (72 n.o. from 85 balls – including one 6 and nine 4s)) and the dependable Saqib Ali (73 n.o. from 87 balls – with 10 fours) helped the tourists from the Gulf race to the target with a splendid 271-3 performance.

“Getting to the target was done in a more professional way in our fourth match of the tour. The win against Northern Territory on Wednesday gave us the added confidence. We tried a new combination with four seamers today (Thursday) in our attack,” said former Pakistan speedster and coach of the UAE squad, Aquib Javed.

“The acclimatisation process here in Australia as part of the ICC associate nations build up programme for the qualifiers is a wonderful development for the sport.”

PNG opener Tony Ura helped himself to a 109-ball 73 runs with the help of a six and six 4s. One drop Assad Vala (38 – including two 4s and a six) played a stabilising role in his 44 ball tenure and in the company of the more adventurous Vani Morea who stroked out a quick 61 from 48 balls with the help of two 4s and five 6s, managed to keep PNG in the hunt for a big total.

Later, keeper Jack Vare chipped in with a timely 21 with just one boundary from 18 balls and skipper Charles Amini tried to accelerate the run rate with three 6s and a four in his undeated 20-ball 35.

Off spinner Nazir Aziz bowled intelligently mixing his faster ones with ‘doosras’ to conclude his 10 overs for the UAE with an impressive three-wicket haul, including those of the dangerous Ura and Vala. Opening bowler Mohammad Naveed’s 2-49 from nine overs and all-rounder Khurram Khan’s orthodox left arm spin which brought in two wickets from a nine-over spell, saw the UAE restricting PNG to 267.

The UAE tried out a new combo for the opening wicket with Mohammad Shahzad (24 in 25 balls including four 4s) accompanying Ali. The duo put on a half century stand by the time the innings was into the eight over. Regular opener Andri Berenger, coming in at one down on Thursday, etched out a 38-ball 33 with one four and two 6s. The show was thereafter a Patil-Ali domination studded with beautifully stroked out boundaries.

They were so calm in their approach and seldom did they venture into an overdrive, clearly shown by the fact that Patil had just a hit over the ropes apart from the nine sweetly times fours while Ali pierced the PNG ground fielding with 10 superb 4s. PNG’s right arm medium pacer Lega Siaka bowled well for the wickets of Ali and Berenger for a final 2-29 in six overs.