DUBAI// Mohammed Tauqir, the UAE vice-captain, admits his distinguished international career could be over in less than a year. The 36-year-old off-spinner has been the most successful Emirati cricketer ever. He has represented his country at seven ACC Trophy competitions, and was prevented from being a part of a fifth successive winning side in that event only by an inspired Hong Kong team on Sunday. He remains one of the most reliable players in the national team, both with the ball and as a wise influence in the late middle-order.
However Tauqir, who works as a relationships manager for Barclays Bank, says he could draw the curtains on his playing days in as little as nine months' time. "I'm thinking of retiring, but I want to focus on the 2009 World Cup qualifying competition," says the Sharjah-based spinner. "If we qualify, I would think - if I am still fit - of playing at the 2011 World Cup. Otherwise that is going to be my last tournament."
The UAE will be bidding for a place in the 2011 World Cup on the subcontinent, when they participate in the qualifying competition on home soil next April, with only four places now open to qualifiers from outside the Test sphere. Ireland, Kenya, the Netherlands and Scotland will start as favourites while the UAE will be hoping veterans like Tauqir, Khurram Khan, 37, and Arshad Ali, 32, can see them through.
Tauqir, who has had a year away from the national team before the start of this term, believes he is bowling better now than ever before. "My focus is to bowl at the right area," he adds. "As a spinner, generally as we get older, we become more mature. "I know I don't need the fitness of a fast bowler. [Muthiah] Muralitharan is getting old, Shane Warne retired at 37, and Anil Kumble is still playing at Test match level and performing consistently. I'm sure I can keep going for another couple of years."
With a distinct paucity of Emirati cricketers to emulate, Tauqir says he has always tried to model his style of play on the former Australia spin bowler Warne. He said: "I really like Shane Warne as a cricketer - the kind of passion he has for the game, and the kind of fighter he is. "I really admire him. I know he is a leg-spinner [as opposed to Tauqir's off-spin], but he is a fighter and I really like him."
@Email:pradley@thenational.ae
