Dubai: The UAE men’s team went down fighting against nine-time champions and holders Australia on the second day of the World Indoor Cricket Federation World Cup at Insportz on Sunday when they fell short by 12 runs.
UAE’s impressive performance even won praise from the Australian skipper Lyle Teske, who said: “I think the UAE are a great side and they exceeded our expectation of their ability, definitely lots of talent. We are used to being under pressure, for the last nine world cups, and we have learnt to adapt to it.
UAE’s stand-in captain Vikrant Shetty is now aiming for a victory. “We are very positive, we knew we had tough matches right at the beginning, we were hoping for at least one win against Australia or New Zealand, though we know they are champions and they have played in every final of the World Cup, the fact that we got three skins against New Zealand and two against Australia we are almost there, we lost both games by 12 points and we are not very far off,” he said.
UAE women lost to South Africa by 70 runs while India down Malaysia by 71 runs.
Brief scores
Australia Men 90 (Rhys Deamess 20, Isuru Umesh 2 wkts) bt UAE Men 78 (Prasath Kumara 23, Matthew Floros 2 wkts). Player of the Match: Matthew Floros.
South Africa Women 125 (Marlene Grieb 22, Roopa Nagraj 1 wkt) bt UAE Women 55 (Heena Hotchandani 28, Hayleigh Wheeler 2 wkts). Player of the Match: Hayleigh Wheeler.
New Zealand 60 (Nick Ward 16, Kolitha Nayanada 2 wkts) bt Sri Lanka 31 (Rumesh Perera 12, Kieran Butler 3 wkts). Player of the Match: Nick Ward.
South Africa Men 90 (Ryk Eksteen 22, Luke Gunn 3 wkts) bt England Men 84 (Thomas Rowe 21, Marcellus Oliphant 2 wkts). Player of the Match: Luke Gunn.
India Men 94 (Vijay Hanumantharayappa 20, Derek Michael 1 wkt) bt. Malaysia Men -23 (Sharvin Moniandy 9, Suraj Reddy 6 wkts). Player of the Match: Suraj Reddy.
Australia 21-under Men 114 (Jamie Diener 24, SJ Kaber 1 wkt) bt. South Africa 21 -under -71 (Mome Petnz 22, Zachary Schwartz 3 wkts). Player of the Match: Jamie Diener
New Zealand 21-under Men 141 (Dhvanil Ghandhi 24, Guruprasad 2 wkts) bt Singapore 21-under Men 19 (Nachiappan Ramu 21, Carl Hooper 3 wkts). Player of the Match: Carl Hooper.
