The UAE headed to Aberdeen for their Cricket World Cup League 2 tri-series hoping for the best, but it must have been difficult to guard against fearing the worst.
The scars of past tours to Scotland are many. Across T20 and one-day internationals, the national team have now played eight matches in the country, and lost them all.
They remain winless after three matches of their current tour, with just Tuesday’s final fixture against United States to play.
So insipid has this trip been, they have had nearly as many concussion checks for batters – CP Rizwan twice, and Aryan Lakra – as they have half-centuries – Lakra, Rohan Mustafa, and Vriitya Aravind twice.
And yet the tour has not been a complete dead loss. At least it has brought with it the emergence of two promising debutants.
Lakra made 84 after opening the batting on his bow in international cricket against the United States at Mannofield.
Sabir Ali’s introduction to the international game was less spectacular. Judged by his shy demeanour, it seems like the left-arm fast bowler might prefer it that way.
The Lahore-born bowler took the prized wicket of Kyle Coetzer, the former Scotland captain, on debut against the host team last week.
He finished his day with 2-50. He has slipped back out of the XI since, due to the return to fitness of Junaid Siddique, but his captain and coach were encouraged by what they saw.
Sabir has timed his arrival in international cricket at an exciting time, with UAE potentially set to participate in both the Asia Cup and T20 World Cup over the coming months.
“Getting to debut here was a great feeling,” Sabir said.
“It shows the hard work over the last few years is paying off. I was very proud.
“Now I really want to try to make that cut [for the Asia Cup and World Cup] and do well for the country.”
Originally from Lahore, Sabir qualifies to play for UAE on residency, having moved to Dubai in 2016.
Having played Grade 2, three-day cricket in Pakistan, he switched to the Emirates to work with Mohsin Arif, a formerly Dubai-based coach who has since returned to his native Wales.
“I arrived in Dubai on a visit visa, wanting to explore more opportunities in cricket, and coach Mohsin took me under his wing,” Sabir said.
“From then on I started playing domestic cricket. I did have the confidence from that point that, once I completed the residency period, I could make the [national team] cut.”
Ahmed Raza, the UAE captain, said Sabir has been a valuable addition to his bowling stocks.
“He is very quiet for a fast bowler, which is unusual,” Raza said.
“He just goes about his business. As much as you want him to be in the faces of the batters, he is not. He just wants to focus on his skills.
“Having a left-armer for the first time in a long time brings diversity to our attack.
“He has been unlucky that, after his debut, we couldn’t pick him in the XI just because of the make up of the team.
“But I thought he bowled really well, against a quality Scottish team. For the first time playing away from home, picking up Kyle Coetzer as his first international wicket, I am sure he will remember that for a long time.”
Left-arm fast bowlers have been a rare commodity in UAE cricket, with only Manjula Guruge and Mohammed Ayaz performing the art for the national team in the recent past.
“Having a left-arm quick is something we have been looking out for because of what they can bring to the game,” Raza said.
“A lot of left-armers have done well at our level of the game, if you look at Saurabh [Netravalkar] from USA and Bilal Khan from Oman.
“It is a different angle which batters are normally not used to. If he does well and keeps improving, I am sure he will prove worthy of his selection.”
UAE's final match of the series, against United States, will be broadcast live on icc.tv, starting at 2pm.
THE SIXTH SENSE
Starring: Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Hayley Joel Osment
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Rating: 5/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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RESULT
Al Hilal 4 Persepolis 0
Khribin (31', 54', 89'), Al Shahrani 40'
Red card: Otayf (Al Hilal, 49')
Most%20polluted%20cities%20in%20the%20Middle%20East
%3Cp%3E1.%20Baghdad%2C%20Iraq%3Cbr%3E2.%20Manama%2C%20Bahrain%3Cbr%3E3.%20Dhahran%2C%20Saudi%20Arabia%3Cbr%3E4.%20Kuwait%20City%2C%20Kuwait%3Cbr%3E5.%20Ras%20Al%20Khaimah%2C%20UAE%3Cbr%3E6.%20Ash%20Shihaniyah%2C%20Qatar%3Cbr%3E7.%20Abu%20Dhabi%2C%20UAE%3Cbr%3E8.%20Cairo%2C%20Egypt%3Cbr%3E9.%20Riyadh%2C%20Saudi%20Arabia%3Cbr%3E10.%20Dubai%2C%20UAE%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cem%3ESource%3A%202022%20World%20Air%20Quality%20Report%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
MOST%20POLLUTED%20COUNTRIES%20IN%20THE%20WORLD
%3Cp%3E1.%20Chad%3Cbr%3E2.%20Iraq%3Cbr%3E3.%20Pakistan%3Cbr%3E4.%20Bahrain%3Cbr%3E5.%20Bangladesh%3Cbr%3E6.%20Burkina%20Faso%3Cbr%3E7.%20Kuwait%3Cbr%3E8.%20India%3Cbr%3E9.%20Egypt%3Cbr%3E10.%20Tajikistan%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cem%3ESource%3A%202022%20World%20Air%20Quality%20Report%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Earth under attack: Cosmic impacts throughout history
- 4.5 billion years ago: Mars-sized object smashes into the newly-formed Earth, creating debris that coalesces to form the Moon
- 66 million years ago: 10km-wide asteroid crashes into the Gulf of Mexico, wiping out over 70 per cent of living species – including the dinosaurs.
- 50,000 years ago: 50m-wide iron meteor crashes in Arizona with the violence of 10 megatonne hydrogen bomb, creating the famous 1.2km-wide Barringer Crater
- 1490: Meteor storm over Shansi Province, north-east China when large stones “fell like rain”, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths.
- 1908: 100-metre meteor from the Taurid Complex explodes near the Tunguska river in Siberia with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima-type bombs, devastating 2,000 square kilometres of forest.
- 1998: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks apart and crashes into Jupiter in series of impacts that would have annihilated life on Earth.
-2013: 10,000-tonne meteor burns up over the southern Urals region of Russia, releasing a pressure blast and flash that left over 1600 people injured.
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
MATCH INFO
Juventus 1 (Dybala 45')
Lazio 3 (Alberto 16', Lulic 73', Cataldi 90 4')
Red card: Rodrigo Bentancur (Juventus)
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SRI LANKA SQUAD
Upul Tharanga (captain), Dinesh Chandimal, Niroshan Dickwella
Lahiru Thirimanne, Kusal Mendis, Milinda Siriwardana
Chamara Kapugedara, Thisara Perera, Seekuge Prasanna
Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal, Dushmantha Chameera
Vishwa Fernando, Akila Dananjaya, Jeffrey Vandersay
What it means to be a conservationist
Who is Enric Sala?
Enric Sala is an expert on marine conservation and is currently the National Geographic Society's Explorer-in-Residence. His love of the sea started with his childhood in Spain, inspired by the example of the legendary diver Jacques Cousteau. He has been a university professor of Oceanography in the US, as well as working at the Spanish National Council for Scientific Research and is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Biodiversity and the Bio-Economy. He has dedicated his life to protecting life in the oceans. Enric describes himself as a flexitarian who only eats meat occasionally.
What is biodiversity?
According to the United Nations Environment Programme, all life on earth – including in its forests and oceans – forms a “rich tapestry of interconnecting and interdependent forces”. Biodiversity on earth today is the product of four billion years of evolution and consists of many millions of distinct biological species. The term ‘biodiversity’ is relatively new, popularised since the 1980s and coinciding with an understanding of the growing threats to the natural world including habitat loss, pollution and climate change. The loss of biodiversity itself is dangerous because it contributes to clean, consistent water flows, food security, protection from floods and storms and a stable climate. The natural world can be an ally in combating global climate change but to do so it must be protected. Nations are working to achieve this, including setting targets to be reached by 2020 for the protection of the natural state of 17 per cent of the land and 10 per cent of the oceans. However, these are well short of what is needed, according to experts, with half the land needed to be in a natural state to help avert disaster.
U19 WORLD CUP, WEST INDIES
UAE group fixtures (all in St Kitts)
Saturday 15 January: v Canada
Thursday 20 January: v England
Saturday 22 January: v Bangladesh
UAE squad
Alishan Sharafu (captain), Shival Bawa, Jash Giyanani, Sailles Jaishankar, Nilansh Keswani, Aayan Khan, Punya Mehra, Ali Naseer, Ronak Panoly, Dhruv Parashar, Vinayak Raghavan, Soorya Sathish, Aryansh Sharma, Adithya Shetty, Kai Smith
