Twenty-three days ago, the UAE were bowled out for 71 on a pancake flat pitch in Kathmandu, their lowest one-day international score ever. In terms of on-field performances, it might well have been the country’s cricketing nadir.
They were in a tailspin that had no obvious end point. Any aspirations they had of making it to the next phase of World Cup qualifying felt entirely fanciful. A loss of all the privileges that go with having ODI status seemed like a given. All appeared hopeless.
How times change. A little over three weeks later, they are a side transformed. Their ongoing participation in ODI cricket was guaranteed in absentia on a portentous day in Namibia, as results went their way on the penultimate day of the Cricket World Cup Qualifier Play-off.
They can even look ahead to measuring themselves against the likes of former World Cup champions West Indies and Sri Lanka, too, after winning through to the global Qualifier in Zimbabwe this summer.
Typically for an ICC pathway competition, there was widespread confusion over what the results of Tuesday’s matches actually meant. So much so, that even hours after the completion of the games, many of the UAE players were unaware they had accomplished both their missions.
First, Namibia had thumped Canada by 111 runs at Wanderers in Windhoek. It meant the home team went level on six points with the UAE, having completed all five of their matches.
Confusingly, the result also put the Namibians into second place in the table on the metric of net run-rate, which has been used to decide ties in competitions so often in the past, behind United States.
The USA will top the group, having moved to eight points with a 25-run victory over Jersey, who are the UAE’s opponents on the final day.
Canada can also move to six points if they win their final match on Wednesday, by beating last-placed Papua New Guinea.
However, as per the playing conditions for the Play-off, neither side can advance beyond the UAE. The tiebreaker for this competition is results in head-to-head matches between sides who are level on points.
Or, put in the words of the official tournament handbook made available to the UAE team manager: “If still equal, the team with the most wins over the other team[s] that are equal on points and have the same number of wins.”
The UAE beat Canada on Saturday, and Namibia a day later, meaning they cannot be superseded.
“I am very happy with the way my team has performed – the bowlers, batsmen, everyone,” Muhammad Waseem, the UAE captain, said.
“Now we have retained ODI status and qualified for the World Cup Qualifier. We were under pressure, but when we were in Dubai, we got together and talked to each other.
“We have belief in each other, and that was all we talked about. We said that if we believe in ourselves, we knew we could do it.”
Waseem said the side are excited looking ahead, not just at the prospect of facing the stars of West Indies et al in Zimbabwe, but because of the brand of cricket they are now playing.
“I just told my team to believe in themselves, because we know we can play good cricket,” Waseem said.
“We had not done that in the past 20-25 games. We played cricket with an open mind, and it worked.
“We are very excited given the way the boys are playing, and we are looking ahead. We are very confident with our performances.
“We will try to keep this momentum and take it there [to Zimbabwe].”
The national team can render any debate about the tiebreaker academic if they beat Jersey in their final match on Wednesday.
Jersey, who beat the UAE the only time the two sides have met in official competition back at the 2019 T20 World Cup Qualifier in Abu Dhabi, were denied the chance to battle the national team for ODI status after they lost to the USA on Tuesday.
“We have had experience against Jersey in T20 and they got the better of us,” Vriitya Aravind, the UAE’s wicketkeeper, said after they beat Namibia.
“We know they’re not an easy team, even though this is the first time we are playing ODI cricket against them.
“We know they will come hard at us, but I think out team morale is really good. Before we came here, our initial goal was ODI status, but then all we were looking for is going to Zimbabwe and qualifying for the World Cup.”
