Sharjah: The UAE team that lifted the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cricket League (Division two) title arrived in Dubai from Namibia with the trophy and announced that their next target is to excel in the World Cup qualifier in Zimbabwe next month.
This squad led by Rohan Mustafa and coached by Dougie Brown was received by Emirates Cricket Board officials Zayed Abbas and Mazhar Khan.
Speaking to Gulf News skipper Mustafa, expressing his delight over this team’s comeback performance after two successive defeats in the World Cricket League to emerge the champions by defeating Nepal in the final, said: “To be honest, after our performance in the World Cricket League we will now play in the World Cup qualifiers without any pressure.”
The UAE will now join West Indies, Ireland, the Netherlands and Papua New Guinea in Group A of the World Cup qualifiers while Nepal clinched a place in Group B along with Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Scotland and Zimbabwe.
It was opener Ashfaq Ahmad’s century (114) Mustafa’s knock of 51, Rameez Shahzad ‘s Shahzad’s unbeaten 41 and Shaiman Anwar timely 40 runs that helped the UAE post 277 for four after their 50 overs in the final.
The UAE restricted Nepal to 270 for eight with their medium pacer Amir Hayat taking four wickets for 53.
Mustafa attributed the team’s title triumph to team work. “We won purely due to team spirit. Our successive defeats to Canada and Nepal was due to our batting failure. So we planned not to give away early wickets so that we can score heavily in the end. This ploy worked for us.”
Mustafa revealed that his team has got a never-say-die spirit. “We were literally out of the tournament after the two defeats. To come back and win the tournament is big for us. Shaiman, Mohammad Usman (59) and Ghulam Shabber (44) scored in the crucial match against Namibia that helped us qualify for the final. I am happy Mohammad Naveed and I could bowl well in the death overs. Hayat was superb as he took seven wickets from his two matches. We will do well in Zimbabwe too,” assured Mustafa.
The UAE will take on Papua New Guinea in their first match of the qualifier in Zimbabwe on March 4 and then will meet West Indies on March 6. The UAE will play the Netherlands on March 8 and Ireland on March 12.
The first two finishers from the tournament will qualify for the 2019 World Cup.
