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UAE end Zimbabwe tour with fourth defeat

The UAE tour of Zimbabwe came to an end with them going down in the fourth and final One Day International in Harare on Tuesday.
In another match curtailed by rain, the UAE lost by three wickets by the Duckworth Lewis Method as Zimbabwe made a 4-0 clean sweep of the series.
It may have been a disappointing end for the UAE but the series, the first bilateral series for the UAE against a Full Member Nation, would have given them some invaluable lessons and points to ponder over, when they make the trip back home.
Opting to take first strike, the UAE could only muster 175 in 47.1 overs with the young Chirag Suri making 46 and Chundangapoyil Rizwan following up his 47 in the previous game with 45 in this fixture.
Zimbabwe set about the chase but a rain delay meant that the target was reduced to 128 from 30 overs.
And although, the UAE managed to make inroads through captain medium pacer Mohammad Naveed and off-spinner Rohan Mustafa, the target wasn't too steep a climb for the Zimbabweans.
Perhaps, another 20 or 30 runs may have made things a bit interesting and the UAE could have made a fist of it.
The UAE had a cautious start through their openers Ashfaq Ahmed and Suri before the former was caught by Craig Ervine off Tendai Chatara.
Suri and Ghulam Shabber put on 42 runs for the second wicket but they couldn't carry on. That was pretty much the story as none of the batsmen could put together a big partnership nor get a big score.
The bright spots were Suri, who made 46 from 76 balls with three boundaries and a six, and Rizwan, who scored 45 from 87 deliveries with a lone boundary.
Muhammad Usman threw his bat around lower down the order to come away with a 24-ball 27 with two boundaries and a six.
The Zimbabwe bowlers medium pacers Kyle Jarvis and Chris Mpofu picked up two wickets each, so too did Sean Williams, with his left-arm spin.
Zimbabwe had knocked off 37 runs in seven overs when dark clouds led to rain. Luckily, it cleared up soon enough with the target revised.
The UAE sniffed a chance after Naveed saw the back of both the openers Brian Chari and Regis Chakabva, Zahoor Khan removed Ervine and Mustafa had Williams and captain Peter Moor castled.
Timycen Maruma was bowled by Shaiman Anwar and Ryan Burl was run out but Zimbabwe had almost got home by then.
Brief scores:
UAE: 175 all out in 47.1 overs (Chirag Suri 46, Chundangapoyil Rizwan 45, Muhammad Usman 27, Sean Williams 2-27, Kyle Jarvis 2-28, Chris Mpofu 2-39) lost to Zimbabwe: 129-7 in 24.5 overs (Timycen Maruma 35, Regis Chakabva 28, Sean Williams 20, Mohammad Naveed 2-26, Rohan Mustafa 2-29) by 3 wickets (D/L Method).
Man of the Match: Kyle Jarvis (Zimbabwe).
james@khaleejtimes.com