Dougie Brown leaves T20 World Cup door open for Shaiman Anwar

The 40-year-old has been opening the batting for Winnipeg Hawks alongside Chris Lynn, the Australian T20 star, at the Global T20 Canada

Shaiman Anwar, the UAE’s most experienced batsman, was a conspicuous absentee when the squad was named for the trip to the Netherlands. Chris Whiteoak / The National

Shaiman Anwar remains in the UAE’s plans for the global qualifier for the Twenty20 World Cup later this year despite not being selected for this month’s series against Netherlands.

The national team are scheduled to play four 20-over internationals against the Dutch, starting on Saturday in Amstelveen.

The series is part of their preparations for the 14-team tournament in UAE, starting on October 11, which carries with it six places for the main event in Australia next year.

Shaiman, the national team’s most experienced batsman, was a conspicuous absentee when the squad was named for the trip to the Netherlands.

The series coincides with the Global T20 Canada, a franchise event for which a variety of UAE players were recruited.

Although Mohammed Naveed, the UAE captain, as well as Rohan Mustafa, Zahoor Khan and Ghulam Shabber have had to curtail their stay in Canada to return for national team duty, Shaiman was given dispensation to stay on.

The 40-year-old has been opening the batting for Winnipeg Hawks alongside Chris Lynn, the Australian T20 star, in Canada.

On Monday, Shaiman scored 43 in a 48-run opening stand with Lynn, inside five overs, against a side containing the likes of Kieron Pollard and Yuvraj Singh.

“He got a contract to play [in Canada] and we felt it was a good opportunity for him,” Dougie Brown, the UAE coach, said of Shaiman.

“He has been a great servant of UAE cricket over the years, and this is us rewarding him, after he got a chance to earn some decent money towards the back end of his career.

“He is still in the extended squad of players for the World Cup qualifier. If he plays in that, this will have been great experience for him, opening the batting with Chris Lynn.”

Retaining the services of their players in spite of franchise cricket is not something the national team have had to be concerned with much in the past.

However, it will likely happen twice this year. The ongoing clash came about because the Canada competition was rescheduled for this time.

The UAE’s players will also miss out on playing in their own T10 League tournament in Abu Dhabi later this year, as it coincides with the World Cup T20 Qualifier.

Despite the problems of the schedule, Brown says the players will benefit from the increased exposure they are getting in league cricket.

“We have always said we would be open to our players going and playing in franchise cricket,” Brown said.

“It is only fair we allow them that opportunity. Their games will develop from sharing a dressing room and match experiences with some of the best players in the world.

“That is what they are doing. They bring that back to our environment, and we can only benefit from it – no matter if someone does or doesn’t play.

“It is not perfect that they are coming in a couple of days before the first game [against Netherlands], but they are coming from the right type of cricket, really tough cricket, and the same version of the game.”