Abu Dhabi: UAE coach Dougie Brown revealed that his team’s main aim is to keep the ODI status intact and then turn their full focus on qualifying for the ICC World Cup as the qualifiers get under way in Zimbabwe on Sunday.

The UAE can only retain ODI status if they can make it to the World Cup qualifying tournament’s Super Six stage and finish in the top five. The UAE will be taking on Papua New Guinea (PNG) in their Group A fixture at the Harare Sports Club with the action starting on Sunday at 11:30am UAE time.

“Obviously, we come here as a lower-ranked side and it would be wrong of us to just say that we are going to qualify for the World Cup. There are four Test nations here, they are probably, and quite rightly, thinking they have World Cup qualification very much in their hands,” said Brown, who played 25 ODIs and two T20Is for England from 1997 to 2007.

“But for us, retaining the ODI status is very important. In order to do that, we have to qualify for the Super Six. Then, there is a little bit of dream and all of us believe we might qualify for the World Cup,” revealed Brown, whose team’s group A, apart from PNG, comprise of West Indies, Ireland and Netherlands.

In each group, teams play each other once, with the top three advancing to the Super Six stage. Results between teams that progress are carried forward and each side plays all qualifiers from the opposite group. The top two sides in the Super Six stage will advance to the final, with both qualifying for the 2019 World Cup in England and Wales.

The UAE’s warm-up matches ahead of the tournament didn’t yield positive results. The team lost to Nepal by five wickets and then against the West Indies, whom they play on March 6, by 32 runs.

Though the clash against West Indies on March 1 saw another disappointing effort from the UAE batsmen, the bowlers were on the money especially leg-spinner Imran Haider, who scalped a few some big names — Marlon Samuels, Carlos Brathwaite, Rovman Powell and Shai Hope — in his figures of four for 14 from eight overs.

Medium pacer Mohammad Naveed also bowled well upfront to get the prized scalp of Chris Gayle. Skipper Rohan Mustafa and Ahmad Raza both claimed two wickets each.

Despite the setbacks, Brown was of the view that there is very little to choose between all the participating teams. “It is going to be one hell of a ride in this tournament. Teams are going to be flying by the seat of their pants for a lot of it. There is going to be some weather around and that is going to affect teams and the decision-making that people make because pressure does funny things to you. We try to take pressure off but to give you the two teams to qualify for the World Cup, I couldn’t because it is that close,” said Brown, whose team’s opponent PNG also come into the clash losing both their outing against Scotland and Zimbabwe by seven and five wickets, respectively.

Dawes felt that more than the UAE match, the contest against star-studded West Indies will be a huge for his wards.

“There’s no doubt that’s a massive game that everyone looks forward to. I believe Chris Gayle is in town. For our boys it’s really, really exciting. At the end of the day they’ve got two arms and two legs — bring ‘em on!”