The good, the bad and the ugly of the UAE’s cricket World Cup campaign

Paul Radley reviews the highs and lows of the UAE’s cricket World Cup campaign ahead of the finale versus the West Indies.

THE GOOD

Shaiman’s century

Shaiman Anwar barely did anything of note between scoring a hundred in the opening match of World Cup qualifying last year and the start of the real thing.

He has clearly been saving up all his runs. For a couple of glorious days in the middle of this competition, the diminutive, Pakistan-born batsman was looking down on Brendon McCullum, AB de Villiers, Kumar Sangakkara and the rest as the leading run-scorer in the World Cup. He may have been surpassed since then, but he will be able to keep one record from his time here forever. When he reached three figures against Ireland in Brisbane, it was the first World Cup century ever scored by a UAE player.

Naveed’s prophecy

Mohammed Naveed typifies all the good bits about this UAE team. He plays the game with a smile on his face, bows to nobody, no matter their status – and the improvement he has made during the course of the past six weeks has been stunning. He sent down a wide on the first ball of each spell he bowled in the opening game against Zimbabwe. Yet by the time he reached the most recent games against Pakistan and South Africa, he was top class. Of course, the real highlight was when he smashed South Africa’s Dale Steyn for a glorious six, just as he said he would when he left Dubai in January.

THE BAD

Zinger’s meltdown

How different this tournament might have been had Ed Joyce’s off-bail fallen to the floor rather than back into its groove when the UAE played Ireland at The Gabba. The Irishman only made 30 more runs after he appeared to be bowled by Amjad Javed – the zinger stumps lit up, then went blank. And the UAE did not help themselves very much after, when they grassed a couple of catches and missed a number of run out chances. But it would be understandable for them to blame bad luck, just this once.

Bad signs

The extra exposure of the World Cup was always going to be something new for the national team’s players to cope with. The limelight has never been harsher than when they faced India in Perth in their third match. “It was a bad game for us,” a disappointed coach Aaqib Javed said of the comprehensive nine-wicket loss. It was no worse than that, no real tragedy – the only problem was the timing. Goodwill abounded towards the UAE and the non-Test nations after the start they made to the competition. It dissipated somewhat thereafter, and the national team have been erratic since.

THE UGLY

Old memories revived

Before this tour, the salient memory of the UAE in World Cups was of Sultan Zarawani being pinned on the forehead by a bouncer by the South African quick bowler Allan Donald. Two decades on, the second meeting between the sides was similarly a bloodbath. Fahad Hashmi might have to ask for more time off from his job with Dubai police next week, if the knee injury he sustained fielding off his own bowling was as serious as it looked. Khurram Khan was also struck a blow to the side of the helmet during a hostile spell by Morne Morkel.

pradley@thenational.ae

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