UAE win third T20I to clinch series against the Netherlands

VOORBURG: Rohan Mustafa, with a three-wicket haul and opener Ashfaq Ahmed’s 56, stole the show again as the UAE team put up a great allround performance to beat the Netherlands by 14 runs in the third T20 International to complete a series win on Tuesday.

The UAE won the four-match series with a game to spare at The Hague Cricket Ground in Voorburg.

The teams were playing their second match in two days but that didn’t hamper the UAE one bit as they turned it on against the Netherlands.

Mustafa tops the wicket takers list with eight scalps. The 30-year-old, who has been on song over the past fortnight -- first with the Brampton Wolves and then with the National team, had taken two wickets in the opening game and three in the second.

Coach Dougie Brown said he was thoroughly delighted with the way things have fallen into place for the UAE during the course of this tour.

Meanwhile, opener Ahmed leads the top run score rs tally with 135 runs, with his second half-century to go with the 54 in the first match.

The fourth match will be played at the same ground on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Nigeria and Namibia have officially replaced Zimbabwe for the upcoming World T20 qualifier in the UAE coming October.

Nigeria finished third in the Africa final and they will now be the 14th team in the qualifier in place -- the third team from Africa in the tournament -- alongside Kenya and Namibia.

The qualifiers in the UAE will also include hosts UAE, ong Kong, Ireland, Jersy, Kenya, Namibia, Netherlands, Oman, Papua New Guinea, Scotland, Singapore and two teams from the Americas final, scheduled to take place later this month.