UAE crash to huge defeat against Hong Kong

Dubai: Hong Kong registered an emphatic 276-run victory over the UAE in their four-day International Cricket Council (ICC) Intercontinental Cup match at the ICC Academy ground yesterday.

UAE, needing 377 runs for victory on the fourth and final day, were bowled out for a paltry 105 runs.

The hosts’ batting collapse also revealed that the team is reeling under the retirement of veteran batsmen and former captains Khurram Khan and Saqib Ali. Debutant Laxman Srinivasan cracked a fighting 61 and, along with another debutant Qais Farooq (26), put on 65 runs for the sixth wicket. If not for this partnership, UAE would have been bowled out for under 50 runs on their home wicket.

Hong Kong slow left-arm spinner Nadeem Ahmad and medium pacer Haseem Amjad picked four wickets each to wreck UAE’s second innings which lasted just 29.2 overs. This is also a reflection of the fact that many top clubs in the UAE which had closed down has resulted in a dip in the standard of domestic competition. It also revealed the harm of excess of Twenty20 cricket in UAE discarding even the 50 over format.

Nine UAE batsmen recorded single digit scores and the highest scorer after Laxman’s 61 and Farooq’s 26 runs was just six runs by last man Yodhin Punja.

UAE skipper Ahmad Raza’s five-wicket spell had helped UAE bowl out Hong Kong for 184 in the second innings backed by Nazir Aziz’s four wicket spell. In the first innings too, UAE could muster only 181 runs in reply to Hong Kong’s first innings score of 378 runs. The modest total, however, was built due to their wicketkeeper batsman Swapnil Patil’s 75 runs and Usman Mushtaq’s 45 runs. In the first innings, too, six UAE batsmen were out for single digit scores.

Hong Kong has surged to the third slot in the competition ladder after two rounds after securing the maximum of 20 points from this second-round clash. UAE have slipped to the last position with no points and two successive defeats in this eight-nation competition.

UAE will now face Hong Kong in two World Cricket League Championship One day matches to be played on November 16 and 18 in Dubai.