DUBAI // As the permanent successor to Aaqib Javed, the next UAE coach already had big boots to fill, even before the latest temporary appointment’s record-setting spell at the helm.
Dougie Brown was carried on the shoulders of his team when he signed off the official duties of his three months in interim charge with a 3-0 series whitewash of Papua New Guinea on Friday.
The former England and Scotland player flew home to the UK on Saturday, but will rejoin the team for their three-match series of friendly matches in Oman later this month. He will then make way for the permanent replacement.
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The Emirates Cricket Board plan to announce Aaqib’s successor at the conclusion of the ongoing Indian Premier League. The IPL final is on May 21.
The UAE won six of the nine official international matches during Brown’s spell with the team in which a variety of individual milestones were achieved on his watch.
Zahoor Khan returned the best figures by a UAE bowler in one-day international history. Rohan Mustafa, the captain, became only the third player to score a hundred and take five wickets in an ODI.
Mohammed Usman and Saqlain Haider scored maiden centuries, while Shaiman Anwar hit the first ton for the country in Twenty20 internationals.
Mohammed Naveed, the fast bowler who could break in to the world’s top 10 for Twenty20 bowlers on the back of his form against PNG, said Brown was the “perfect” coach for UAE.
“When Aaqib came, he was very good, like part of the family,” Naveed said.
“Now this coach has brought us more success. He is calm. If I make a mistake, he tells me how to improve it next time. As a result, my performances were very good.
“He understands me, Shaiman, Amjad Javed, and gave us so much respect. So I gave him so much respect back. This coach is perfect, outstanding. Our boys want him to stay.”
Brown, who last season finished as director of cricket at Warwickshire, the county side he represented as a player, says the players deserve credit for the marked improvement that has been made of late.
“They are a great bunch of guys,” Brown said. “I knew that when I arrived, that they were a top bunch of lads who were very talented, what we hadn’t seen was a consistency of performance they were capable of.
“Credit to them for working as hard as they have. They have gone on an enormous journey to reach this point. There are still things they need to work on.
“I’ve been genuinely impressed by the results, but also the way they have gone about their preparation. That is what has got us to this point.”
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