UAE v Papua New Guinea, Intercontinental Cup: UAE beat PNG by nine wickets
ABU DHABI // For the first time in 1,295 days, the UAE were able to celebrate victory while wearing the whites of first-class cricket rather than their limited-overs grey.
Midway through Day 4 at the Zayed Cricket Stadium, Shaiman Anwar glanced a four off his legs to give the national team a nine-wicket win over Papua New Guinea in the Intercontinental Cup.
Shaiman was just one of three survivors from the side who beat Namibia, coincidentally by the same nine-wicket margin, inside two days at Sharjah Cricket Stadium in September 2013.
The victory was as comprehensive as the scoreline suggests, but was hard earned by the home team.
Centuries by Mohammed Usman and Saqlain Haider meant the UAE were able to declare their first innings with a lead of 247.
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Read more
■ Day 3: Saqlain Haider makes claim for central contract with century
■ Day 2: Mohammed Usman century puts UAE in control
■ Day 1: UAE enjoy encouraging day against PNG
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However, they were one bowler down as they started their push for victory with the ball, with Qadeer Ahmed missing due to a fractured thumb.
Rohan Mustafa, the captain who was one of the other players still around from the side who last won in first-class cricket, did his best to plug the gaps.
He bowled seamers and off-spinners whenever the mood took him, and adopted a game plan that was relentlessly attacking.
At one point late on Day 3, Mustafa was one of nine slips, meaning all of the UAE team were in a cordon, other than the bowler Mohammed Naveed.
Naveed clearly enjoyed the belief his captain showed in him, paying him back with four wickets from 20 overs of pace. Imran Haider also took four, while Ahmed Raza, the third survivor from 2013, took two to take his match haul to five.
“It’s an awesome feeling,” Dougie Brown, the UAE coach, said. “There has been a lot of work that has gone into this in the past three months, and all the credit for embracing the work and the vision we have presented goes to the players.
“It was a pretty flat wicket. I thought the way the guys stuck to it with the ball and in the field was absolutely exceptional.”
The UAE were held up by the excellence with the bat of Lega Siaka, who was unbeaten on 142 when PNG were eventually all out for 286.
“Dominic Tello [UAE assistant coach] deserves a lot of credit for the hours he has put in, but the guys deserve most of the credit because they are the ones putting in the hard work,” Brown said.
“I think I’m right in saying the team haven’t scored 400 before in a first innings. For them to get that and for us to be in a position where we can declare, to give ourselves the best part of five sessions to try to win the game was fantastic.”
PNG have Ross Taylor, the New Zealand batsman, with them in a coaching consultancy role this week. Dipak Patel, the PNG coach, said his inexperienced players are gleaning as much knowledge as they can on this tour, with a three match Twenty20 series to follow.
“In the first innings we didn’t get enough runs,” Patel, the former New Zealand spinner, said. “There is a lack of experience among our batsmen. We are still learning. This is only the fourth time they have played a four-day game.
“The natural instinct for our players is to play shots. We can take a lot out of it, particularly the classy knock by Lega Siaka in the second innings.”
Table
1 Afghanistan 5 4 0 0 1 0 81
2 Ireland 5 4 1 0 0 0 80
3 Netherlands 5 2 2 0 1 0 49
4 Papua New Guinea 5 2 3 0 0 0 40
5 Hong Kong 5 1 2 0 1 1 39
6 Scotland 4 0 1 0 2 1 30
7 UAE 5 1 3 0 1 0 27
8 Namibia 4 1 3 0 0 0 20
Fixtures
■ Wednesday, 10am, First T20
■ Friday, 9.30am, Second T20
■ Friday, 2.30pm, Third T20
■ All at Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi. Admission is free
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