They had waited forever for this. It had been 2,772 days since the UAE had last played in a World Cup.
Not one of the 15 players who have made the trip to Australia for this T20 World Cup were involved back then.
It is their dream, their well-earned shot at the big time. Then, when the curtain came up on their first opportunity to play on cricket’s biggest stage, half of the side froze.
Not just physically, either. By the time the second innings started against the Netherlands in Geelong, a port city that is Victoria’s second largest after Melbourne, the temperature was eight degrees.
In the game that had gone before, 16,407 of the seats had been filled, mainly by partying Sri Lankans – until their spirit was punctured by a shock loss to Namibia.
After that, almost everyone – bar a large group of the friends and family of Scott Edwards, the Melbourne-raised captain of the Netherlands - traipsed home dejected.
Those hardy souls who did stay on scarcely had much to warm the cockles, after the UAE won the toss and elected to bat.
As early as the fourth over, they made their feelings known. With the UAE on seven for no loss at that point in time, someone from the stands bellowed: “Get on with it.”
At least Muhammad Waseem responded. He hit the next two balls over the boundary rope for six. Then immediately, he was becalmed again.
So was everyone else, as the UAE toiled to 111 for eight, thanks to canny bowling by Bas de Leede, Fred Klaasen and Tim Pringle.
Of the batters, only one – Kashif Daud – scored in excess of a run a ball. The UAE might be wearing a vivid kit for this competition, but they had the colour totally sapped from their batting.
If the UAE want excuses, there are plenty to cling to. First-night nerves. The fact they are playing on a drop-in wicket for the first time.
Also, there were the disorientating effect of the narrow dimensions of the ground. Kardinia Park is the home venue of Geelong Cats, the Australian Rules football team who are the current AFL champions.
They are known for having home ground advantage due to the quirks of the field, which often leads to the opposition kicking the ball out at the side of the field with greater regularity than is usual.
How they took it to the final over, even though they had been given so little to work with, was a tribute to the spirit of their bowlers, chief among them Junaid Siddique.
The fast bowler was lion-hearted in the face of the inevitable. He might have turned a game that had seemed lost in his side’s favour, too, with a little luck.
He was handed the ball to bowl the 14th over. The Netherlands were 76 for four at that point in time, and – with a target set at just 112 – on cruise control.
Then Siddique trapped Tom Cooper in front of the stumps. Two balls later, he castled Roelof van der Merwe. Had CP Rizwan not grassed an easy catch, his double-wicket maiden would have been a triple.
In the end, his heroics counted for little. The Netherlands were left with six to get off the last over. They managed it with a ball to spare.
MATCH INFO
Alaves 1 (Perez 65' pen)
Real Madrid 2 (Ramos 52', Carvajal 69')
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
How tumultuous protests grew
- A fuel tax protest by French drivers appealed to wider anti-government sentiment
- Unlike previous French demonstrations there was no trade union or organised movement involved
- Demonstrators responded to online petitions and flooded squares to block traffic
- At its height there were almost 300,000 on the streets in support
- Named after the high visibility jackets that drivers must keep in cars
- Clashes soon turned violent as thousands fought with police at cordons
- An estimated two dozen people lost eyes and many others were admitted to hospital
Earth under attack: Cosmic impacts throughout history
- 4.5 billion years ago: Mars-sized object smashes into the newly-formed Earth, creating debris that coalesces to form the Moon
- 66 million years ago: 10km-wide asteroid crashes into the Gulf of Mexico, wiping out over 70 per cent of living species – including the dinosaurs.
- 50,000 years ago: 50m-wide iron meteor crashes in Arizona with the violence of 10 megatonne hydrogen bomb, creating the famous 1.2km-wide Barringer Crater
- 1490: Meteor storm over Shansi Province, north-east China when large stones “fell like rain”, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths.
- 1908: 100-metre meteor from the Taurid Complex explodes near the Tunguska river in Siberia with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima-type bombs, devastating 2,000 square kilometres of forest.
- 1998: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks apart and crashes into Jupiter in series of impacts that would have annihilated life on Earth.
-2013: 10,000-tonne meteor burns up over the southern Urals region of Russia, releasing a pressure blast and flash that left over 1600 people injured.
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Stormy seas
Weather warnings show that Storm Eunice is soon to make landfall. The videographer and I are scrambling to return to the other side of the Channel before it does. As we race to the port of Calais, I see miles of wire fencing topped with barbed wire all around it, a silent ‘Keep Out’ sign for those who, unlike us, aren’t lucky enough to have the right to move freely and safely across borders.
We set sail on a giant ferry whose length dwarfs the dinghies migrants use by nearly a 100 times. Despite the windy rain lashing at the portholes, we arrive safely in Dover; grateful but acutely aware of the miserable conditions the people we’ve left behind are in and of the privilege of choice.
GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
Key recommendations
- Fewer criminals put behind bars and more to serve sentences in the community, with short sentences scrapped and many inmates released earlier.
- Greater use of curfews and exclusion zones to deliver tougher supervision than ever on criminals.
- Explore wider powers for judges to punish offenders by blocking them from attending football matches, banning them from driving or travelling abroad through an expansion of ‘ancillary orders’.
- More Intensive Supervision Courts to tackle the root causes of crime such as alcohol and drug abuse – forcing repeat offenders to take part in tough treatment programmes or face prison.
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The Al Barzakh Festival takes place on Wednesday and Thursday at 7.30pm in the Red Theatre, NYUAD, Saadiyat Island. Tickets cost Dh105 for adults from platinumlist.net
Closing the loophole on sugary drinks
As The National reported last year, non-fizzy sugared drinks were not covered when the original tax was introduced in 2017. Sports drinks sold in supermarkets were found to contain, on average, 20 grams of sugar per 500ml bottle.
The non-fizzy drink AriZona Iced Tea contains 65 grams of sugar – about 16 teaspoons – per 680ml can. The average can costs about Dh6, which would rise to Dh9.
Drinks such as Starbucks Bottled Mocha Frappuccino contain 31g of sugar in 270ml, while Nescafe Mocha in a can contains 15.6g of sugar in a 240ml can.
Flavoured water, long-life fruit juice concentrates, pre-packaged sweetened coffee drinks fall under the ‘sweetened drink’ category
Not taxed:
Freshly squeezed fruit juices, ground coffee beans, tea leaves and pre-prepared flavoured milkshakes do not come under the ‘sweetened drink’ band.
MATCH DETAILS
Manchester United 3
Greenwood (21), Martial (33), Rashford (49)
Partizan Belgrade 0
