UAE go out on a sour note against West Indies at Cricket World Cup

NAPIER, NEW ZEALAND // If the national cricket team have to wait another 19 years to play at their next Cricket World Cup, then this was hardly the way to go out.

Comprehensively beaten by a West Indies side of middling pedigree, who were resting their best player anyway. A top order collapse. Gloomy weather. Scruffy fielding. As end-of-show parties go, this was one to skip.

Maybe the UAE's players already had their minds on the flight home. Even that might not work out as planned.

With gale force winds forecast to strike New Zealand when Cyclone Pam arrives on Monday, it is possible flights out of Napier may be grounded.

For much of the national team’s final outing at this World Cup, it looked as though they were in a rush to get their bags packed and get out of here.

They have been away on tour for longer than ever before. This was the third time in the past two months they had played in this town.

As quaint and welcoming as Napier is, the players of the national team are probably ready for their own beds now. Time to head back home.

They will come armed with some natty World Cup stash, and plenty of stories. No wins, though.

The cup campaign for which the country had been waiting impatiently for the best part of two decades met a drab and listless end under moody skies at McLean Park.

“It was swinging and seaming and our batters could not cope,” said Mohammed Tauqir, the UAE captain.

“We know we could have done better than this. Our batting department has not been as consistent as it should have been.”

This performance rather summed up the national team’s World Cup. Plenty to like, some individual endeavour worth celebrating, but as good as over before it had begun.

Only three players in the UAE line-up made it to double figures. It was looking like an embarrassment at 26 for 5, then 46 for 6, with all the leading batsmen back in the pavilion.

It has been a quirk of this competition, though, that the UAE’s seventh-wicket partnership has consistently been by far its most productive.

Usually it has been Shaiman Anwar, the most in-form batsman, in concert with the free-hitting Amjad Javed who have been tasked with repairing the damage at the fall of the sixth wicket.

This time, though, the alliance was between two bowlers – Javed and Nasir Aziz.

Aziz was in need of something positive to remember this tournament by. He had been dropped after an ineffectual performance with the ball in the opening game against Zimbabwe.

His only notable appearance between then and now had been to drop a crucial catch against Ireland while briefly on as a fielding substitute.

He made up for the indifferent lead-in by playing a fine hand with the bat, which is his lesser suit, as he top-scored with 60.

Their 107-run alliance equalled the UAE’s best for a seventh wicket stand in ODIs – that between Shaiman and Javed against Ireland.

Although it inched the national team to 175, that was never likely to be enough, as the sun started to break through the clouds.

“I always wanted to bowl first and try to bowl out the UAE for a small total and get the runs as quickly as possible,” said Jason Holder, the West Indies captain, who took four wickets.

“It just fell into place today.”

Johnson Charles, who was only a late addition to the squad, and Jonathan Carter both helped themselves to half centuries as they chased the target with 19 and a bit overs to spare.

It has been 19 and a bit years since the UAE last played at a World Cup. Let us all hope the gap between now and the next one is not quite as long.

pradley@thenational.ae

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