PERTH // A solid bowling effort led by Manjula Guruge was not enough to carry the UAE to victory in their opening 50-over match against the Western Australian XI at the WACA ground yesterday.
The visitors were unable to chase down the target of 245 set by the Australian side and were all out for 207 after 46.5 overs.
The match was the first in a series of practice games for coach Aaqib Javed’s side, who are preparing for the ICC Cricket World Cup, to be held in Australia and New Zealand, beginning in February.
“We’re a new team and have never played in Australia before so these matches are really important for us to be able to adjust to Australian pitches and work on our fitness,” Aaqib said.
In sunny conditions, the Australians struggled for their runs, particularly when Guruge, the left-armer from Sri Lanka, was bowling. He took six for 30 in his allotted 10 overs. “I did play well but we’re here to practise and get better so improvements can be made,” Guruge said.
A slow start to the tourists’ innings made it nearly impossible for them to mount a successful chase. Shaiman Anwar and Mohammad Naveed led the UAE with 41 runs each, and Khurram Khan added 40 runs.
“Pitches in Australia and New Zealand have extra bounce compared to what we’re used to so we will need to adjust to this and learn to target and attack the ball,” Aaqib said.
Ashton Agar, the Australia international, said the UAE were “competitive”, but said: “They really need to improve on batting through the middle order and hitting some boundaries.”
The UAE meet the Western Australian XI again today at Perth’s Murdoch University before travelling to Darwin for another four matches over the next two weeks.
