UAE crash to second defeat

dubai — A 21-year-old Nepalese seamer Sompal Kami rocked the UAE team as they crashed to their second defeat in the ICC World Cricket League Division Two at Windhoek on Sunday.

Put into bat, the UAE team failed to recover from the first wicket in the first over and half the side was back in the hut for 54. Shaiman Anwar (30, 40 balls, two 4s) and Adnan Mufti (18, 26 balls, two 4s) tried to steady the boat but teenage leggie Sandeep Lanichhane, who was in news recently for being the first cricketer from Nepal to be signed for the IPL, broke the partnership by clean bowling Shaiman for the sixth UAE wicket at 71.

The tail wagged a bit but Kami, who had taken the first two early wickets, grabbed two last wickets in the space of two overs to end the UAE innings at 114 in 31 overs.

In reply, Nepal also had a shaky start when they lost three wickets for 20 runs, but their skipper Paras Khadka (51, 48 balls, two 4s, five 6s) played an attacking knock before he fell with 39 runs still needed for Nepal to go past the modest victory target of 115.

Aarif Sheikh (16, 33 balls, one 4) and Rohit Paudel (12, 41 balls) put their heads down to take Nepal to victory with 67 balls to spare. For the UAE Mohammed Naveed and Amir Hayat took two wickets each.

Nepal now have four points after having won two of their three matches while Canada lead the table with three wins out of three. This was the second successive defeat for the UAE, the only team in the touranemnt with ODI status, after their defeat against Canada in the last match.

A top-two finish earns them a spot at next month’s 10-team World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe, getting them one step closer to the 2019 World Cup in England, but a bottom-two finish relegates them to Division Three.

Points for Nepal after their victory over The UAE