The United Arab Emirates started their bid to qualify for their third World Cup today with a win over Papua New Guinea.

The WCL2 champions batted first at Harare Sports Club after PNG captain Assad Vala won the toss and put them in. A partnership of 91 between Rohan Mustafa and Ashfaq Ahmed got them off the a good start before Ahmed was out for 50, but no other player was able to stick with the UAE skipper for a lengthy period.

Mustafa batted until the 46th over when he was dismissed for 95, with the next highest score other than Ahmed's 50 being 16. The UAE were bowled out for 221, with Norman Vanua taking 4-39.

The Papua New Guinea chase started in terrible fashion as Mohammad Naveed sliced through their top order with four wickets in the first five overs to leave them struggling on 23-4. A series of interruptions led them to have a DLS adjusted target of 170, but they were never able to recover.

Naveed took one more wicket to finish with 5-28 as PNG were bowled out for 113, losing by 56 runs. Both sides will be back in action on Tuesday, with Papua New Guinea getting a first ever ODI against a full member when they play Ireland, whilst the UAE will be taking on pre-tournament favourites West Indies.