England warm up on a cold and wintry night, UAE learn valuable lessons

The UAE's Shaiman Anwar (right) and Manjula Guruge run between the wickets during a World Cup match against India in Perth on February 28, 2015. - Reuters file

As the UAE strode out face England under the bright lights of the Zayed Cricket Stadium on Sunday night, the result of this T20 fixture was already a foregone conclusion.
The only doubt remained was the margin of defeat England would inflict on the UAE. England did warm up on this cold and wintry night, ahead of their three T20 Internationals against Pakistan, with a 79-run victory.
But for the UAE, such fixtures are not about the result. Being an Associate nation, the UAE are starved of games against Full member nations.
So, this served a bright opportunity for Aaqib Javed's hurriedly assembled side to rub shoulders with the Englishmen and see how such top quality teams operate.
To mention the gulf that lies between these two sides would be irrelevant. If anything, the experience gained from such fixtures is invaluable for the UAE, in the long run.
The UAE are still finding their feet in international cricket despite qualifying for two World Cups in 1996 and 2015. And experiences, exposure and lessons learnt from fixtures such as these, would only help them.
 They had done remarkably well with an ageing side at the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in January, although the results would say otherwise. The UAE had targeted two wins from the competition and almost would have achieved them but ended up on the wrong side of the result against Zimbabwe and Ireland.
Now, this is a side in transition after the retirements of Khurram Khan and Saqib Ali and with the Emirati Mohammed Tauqir not being selected.
Aaqib was also hampered that he had a depleted pool of players to choose from for the fixtures against Oman on Sunday and against the English, with some busy with their club sides.
Nevertheless, it was learning curve for those that turned out on the night.
The only way can be up from this and the players would also be buoyed by the announcement made by the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB), prior to this game.
These are all expat part-time cricketers, juggling between work and cricket training and playing cricket. But from January, they will not be anymore. The ECB announced central contracts for players and that's a really massive step forward for a sport competing for eyeballs against football, in this region.
Football here in the UAE, entered the professional era in 2008 and cricket will do so at the turn of the year.
So, these men and those youngsters coming through from the academies and schools needn't have to worry about a future. Cricket can be a career now, something unimaginable even, perhaps, maybe a year ago.
This is the winds of change.
For those die-hard cricket fanatics, who still want to know about what unfolded on the night, for the record, England ran up 174 for six in their 20 overs, although with the way they had started, a score in excess of 200 loomed.
Opener Jason Roy helped himself to racy 59 from 29 balls with nine boundaries and two sixes, while partner Alex Hales ran up 40 from 30 balls with five strikes to the fence. Moeen Ali made a 16-ball 20 with a boundary and a six.
After England raced ahead initially, the UAE bowlers pulled things back well to keep them down to 174.
The UAE were never in the chase with off-spinner Mooen Ali snapping four wickets and pacer Chris Jordan three.
But credit to the UAE that they lasted the distance, the full quota of 20 overs, finishing up on 95 for nine.
Sometimes, some things cannot be taught in the nets or in training. It is in real match situations that you learn and these were 40 overs of invaluable lessons for the UAE.
james@khaleejtimes.com