Dubai: Bowlers dominated on the first day of the two-day Danube Test Series match between Alubond Tigers and Danube Lions at the ICC Global Cricket Academy ground.
Twenty-one wickets fell on day one, with the Tigers the first to display their bowling strength by restricting the Lions to 82 for nine. Asadullah Sharif with a spell of four for 38, Sheraz Ahmad with three for 44 and Nasir Aziz, who took two wickets for no runs, shone.
Alubond then went on to post 199 all out through Mohammad Mujtaba’s 54 and Zeeshan Bangash’s 45. Alubond would have posted a bigger score but for Aamir Hayat’s fine spell of five for 48.
Danube began their second innings on a strong note by scoring 97 for two, with Fakhar Zaman’s unbeaten 41 and UAE batsman Vikrant Shetty’s 31 the highlights.
The Lions won the toss and elected to bat first, but they came to regret that decision. Alubond ripped through the batting in the first session and Danube opted to declare after just 20.5 overs, denying Alubond an extra bonus point.
In reply, Alubond’s openers put on 30, but they lost two quick wickets including that of in-form batsman Hasan Raza.
A quick partnership of 82 between Mujtaba and Bangash ensured they took a sizeable lead.
Trailing by 117, Danube got off to a bad start the second time around, losing opener Asif Iqbal for one, when he was trapped leg before by Sheraz.
Opener Zaman and one drop Shetty brought stability to the innings with a 51-run partnership. Vikrant was batting well on 31 before he was given out in bizarre fashion — he hit a Nasir Aziz delivery twice and Alubond’s appeal was upheld.
