United Arab Emirates started its Division 2 campaign with hard-fought victory over Namibia in a low-scoring affair at the Dubai Sports City Stadium today. A valiant effort by UAE captain Khurram Khan saved the hosts after a batting collapse saw the side struggle before claiming victory on the opening day of the event.
Hong Kong and Papua New Guinea also began the tournament with victories with the former defeating Uganda by 26 runs while Bermuda suffered defeat by 43 runs at the hands of the promoted Papua New Guineans.
In the fixture at DSC Stadium, spin bowling trio Shadeep Silva, Mohammad Tauqir and Arshad Ali began the UAE's run in Div. 2 in the right fashion by claiming three wickets each to dismiss Namibia for a mere 176 runs in under 50 overs.
Craig Williams' side had a disastrous start to the morning with the Namibians' opening batsman Ewald Steenkamp dismissed for duck after the 22-year-old wicketkeeper was deemed to leg-before off the bowling of Silva having faced just nine balls.
In the morning sunshine of the stadium the UAE team clinically worked its way through the Namibian top order, dismissing the top three batsmen within the first 10 overs. It was then up to Williams alongside Gerrie Snyman to steady the ship before Williams departed for 30 off the bowling of Tauqir leaving Snyman to work with Raymond van Schoor to try and raise the Africans' total. The latter pair putting on 56 for the fifth wicket before Snyman departed being caught off the bowling of Tauqir.
Despite a cameo by Christi Viljoen, not much more can be said for the lower order as Arshad removed Louis Klazinga, Viljoen and Kola Burger with ease, each of the batsmen hitting the ball into the hands of the UAE fielders.
After the innings break and as the shadows began to cast across the stadium, UAE's innings did not get off to the start it had hoped for as the top order collapsed for a mere 20 runs, and by the time the team had reached the eighth over it was four wickets down for just 39. Captain Khurram Khan's attempt to steady the innings was not aided by in-form Namibian bowlers Sarel and Kola Burger along with Klazinga snapping up the wickets of the men around the UAE's leader, leaving the team stumbling at 74-6 in just 21 overs.
But Khan was not fazed and proceeded to grind out a 103-ball 54 while Amjad Javed and later Ahmed Raza assisted their leader in reaching the total with 37 balls remaining.
Man of the match Khan said, 'It's obviously fantastic to get off to a winning start for the event along with beating Namibia whom we lost to in the I-Shield final recently. I think our bowling was particularly strong today as our spinners worked their way through the Namibian batting line up to give us the upper hand in the game. When we saw the pitch originally this morning we thought it might seam a bit but we decided to go with the three spinners and it really paid off.
'Our batting obviously needs to be worked on, we didn't seem to be able to create partnerships which I think is a common problem when chasing a small total coupled with the pressure of chasing a target. I'm obviously pleased that I could help my side to stabilize and ultimately win the match after a couple of good partnerships with the lower order and hopefully we can continue the momentum of winning into our next fixture.'
At the ICC Global Cricket Academy, Uganda took on WCL Div. 3 winners Hong Kong and once again Hong Kong schoolboy Mark Chapman shone for the side as he had done in the final of the previous division. The 16-year-old made an unbeaten 70, striking seven boundaries and one six on his way to helping the side to its total of 204 in its allotted overs.
Chapman and Hussain Butt were the only two players in the side who made it over the 50 mark, with Courtney Kruger and Aizaz Khan being the other batsmen to contribute. Opener Roy Lansam didn't begin the tournament well for the side, with the 30-year-old dismissed for a duck after being caught behind of the bowling of Charles Waiswa.
The middle-order added to Hong Kong's woes with poor running between the wickets seeing three key batsmen, Nizakat Khan, Waqas Barqat and Irfan Ahmed, all run-out by fast-moving Ugandans - Arthur Kyobe, Benjamin Musoke and Roger Mukasa respectively. The Uganda side shared the wickets around but Ronald Ssemanda proved nifty with the ball claiming 2-35 in his six overs.
In reply, Mukasa led from the front with the opener making 52 runs with seven boundaries in his innings before the 21-year-old was out leg-before off the bowling of Nizakat. It was a good day for the 18-year-old spin bowler who claimed four wickets for just 14 runs - but it was Chapman who walked away with the Man of the Match award for the game.
'It's pretty good to get off to a winning start, now we just need to keep it up,' said Chapman.
'The decks here are really good and the grounds are much bigger than Hong Kong which helped us today. Uganda are a good fielding side but they weren't as disciplined as we had anticipated and I think we managed to take advantage of that to win today.
'I think our middle-order need some improvement after today and the three run-outs that occurred. It was a culmination of poor communication and poor running - so we've a lot to work on. It's key for us not to lose wickets in the middle stages from now on,' added the 16-year-old.
PNG began the day by making the highest total of the three games being played today in Dubai - 231 in its 50 overs. In the heat of the Dubai sun at the GCA Oval 1 Tony Ura led with a half-century that featured nine boundaries and one six as he went about helping the side to its total.
Ura was assisted in the run-making by Mahuru Dai and Vani Morea while Asad Vara and Chris Amini had disappointing starts to the tournament with the top-order duo being dismissed making just 11 runs between them.
Delyonne Borden had a good day with the ball for the Bermudians with the 26-year-old's off-breaks rewarded with three wickets including key batsmen Ura, Vare and Chris Kent. Bermuda didn't help to reduce the target they were going to be chasing by bowling some 19 extras, including 12 wides in its innings.
In reply, Bermuda simply ran out of batsmen who could help them chase down the total posted by the Papua New Guineans along with some strong bowling at the death by Chris Amini and Hitolo Areni. Dai added to his good day with the bat by taking the middle-order wickets of Chris Froggo and Irving Romaine while captain Rarura Dikana once again proved useful with his medium pacers to claim a couple of Bermudian wickets.
PNG coach Greg Campbell said of claiming victory on day one, 'Today Tony Ura was key in the opening innings, definitely the Man of the Match Mahuru Dai and Vani Morea down the bottom of the order were all key for us today's win. Vani did very well as it was his first time playing in a while.
'I think Bermuda challenged us today, their captain David Hemp is very experienced and has played a lot of cricket. But you know Hong Kong and ourselves have shown today that we are not just here to fill spaces and keep numbers up - we're here to stay.
'It feels good for the boys to get a win on the first day of the event on their first appearance in this division but we just need to take each day as it comes throughout the event.'
Tomorrow, Uganda play Namibia at DSC Stadium, while Bermuda play Hong Kong at GCA 1 and UAE play PNG at GCA 2.