Dubai: The UAE crashed to a 98-run defeat to the United States following a batting collapse in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 at the ICC Academy ground. Although the UAE restricted USA to 213, they were bowled out for 115 runs in 33 overs. It was UAE’ second successive defeat to the US in this event. Electing to field first, UAE pacer Zahoor Khan clean bowled opener Monank Patel for eight. Steven Taylor joined opener Xavier Marshall and took the score to 50 in 11.4 overs when Rohan Mustafa dismissed Taylor for 16. Ten runs later, UAE’s young all-rounder Darius D’Silva trapped Marshall leg before for 31. D’Silva also had Ian Holland caught by Mustafa for five and the US were struggling at 71-4 by the 19th over.
The US’ in-form batsman Aaron Jones, who cracked 95 in the last match against UAE, along with wicketkeeper Akshay Homraj, put on 69 for the fifth wicket. UAE skipper Ahmad Raza provided the breakthrough, trapping Jones leg-before for 46. UAE’s off-spinner Basil Ahmad clean bowled Homraj for 34 to pick his first wicket in One Day Internationals. Despite Junaid Siddique striking twice in quick succession, Nisarg Patel kept the scoreboard moving through a fighting 40 to steer the US to a challenging total of 213.
Chasing the total, UAE lost opener Chirag Suri for one in the second over to USA’s left-arm pacer Saurabh Netravalkar. D’Silva too fell to Netravalkar for two. More disaster followed with Cameron Stevenson picking the wickets of opener Vriitya Aravind for 23 and star batsman Mohammad Usman for a duck. When Netravalkar trapped Rohan Mustafa for a duck, half the UAE side were back in the pavilion for just 32 runs in 7.4 overs. C.P. Rizwan and Basil Hammed took the score to 76 when Stevenson struck again to remove Rizwan for 15. Hameed hit a fighting 38 runs.