Published: Feb 19, 2015, 04:26 PM (IST)
Edited: Feb 19, 2015, 04:26 PM (IST)
The last time United Arab Emirates (UAE) played in a World Cup tournament was way back in 1996. Nineteen years down the line, after a lot of struggle, they got their opportunity to play in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. In the Pool B match, UAE started their campaign against Zimbabwe in Nelson, New Zealand. Zimbabwe’s Elton Chigumbura having won the toss, elected to field first. ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: Full coverage
Batting first, UAE posted a total of 285 for the loss of seven wickets in 50 overs. Most of their batsman had good starts but only Shaiman Anwar (67) went on to make a half-century. They had pockets of good partnerships during their innings, firstly for the third wicket, Krishna Chandran (34) and Khurram Khan (45) put on 82 runs. Then for the fifth wicket, wicket-keeper Swapnil Patil (34) and Anwar put on another 82 runs. The quick-fire seventh wicket partnership of unbeaten 53 between Amjad Javed (25*) and Mohammad Naveed (23*) helped the team post a challenging total. For Zimbabwe, Tendai Chatara (3 wickets), Solomon Mire (2 wickets) and Sean Williams (2 wickets) were pick of the bowlers.
In response, Zimbabwe started off nicely as Sikandar Raza (46) and Regis Chakabva (34) put up a 64-run partnership for the first wicket. The UAE bowlers put a check on the Zimbabwe batsmen as at one stage they were 167 for five. But a match winning 83-run partnership between Craig Ervine (42) and Sean Williams (76*) took them over the line in the 48th over, as they sealed the close encounter by four wickets.
Williams was awarded the man-of-the-match for his all-round performance. Zimbabwe open their account in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 and move to fourth place in Pool B.
Brief scores:
United Arab Emirates 285 for 7 in 50 overs (Khurram Khan 45, Shaiman Anwar 67; Tendai Chatara 3-42, Solomon Mire 2-39, Sean Williams 2-43) lost to Zimbabwe 286 for 6 in 48 overs (Sikandar Raza 46, Brendan Taylor 47, Craig Ervine 42, Sean Williams 76*; Mohammad Tauqir 2-51) by four wickets
