UAE crumble under pressure

Oman triumph by five wickets on the second day of the Twenty20 Gulf Cup as team pays the price for dropping too many catches.

Khamis, who scored a century in the earlier game, was out for 28.

Oman triumphed over the UAE by five wickets when the two countries clashed on the second day of the Twenty20 Gulf Cup at the Dubai cricket ground in Jebel Ali. Oman, the only team in the tournament to be supported by a national governing body, proved to be too strong for the UAE, whose players slipped up in the field when under pressure. Oman achieved the 153 runs needed for victory in 16.3 overs. And though Oman batsman, Ahmed Mohammed, will no doubt be delighted with his team's win and his own 49 not out, he may wish that the winning runs had not come from a wide ball that then went for four, denying him his half century. The UAE pair of captain Alawi Albraik and Marwan Khamis had earlier combined to score 186 runs in a stint lasting nearly the whole 20 overs against Kuwait's untried bowling attack. But Oman proved to be a well-practised outfit and the UAE finished their session with the bat on 152 for nine. Sharif Pindook, the medium-pace bowler, got Albraik first ball and contained Monday's unbeaten century-scorer Khamis to 28 runs from 15 balls. Sharif also dismissed Said Murad (five). The bulk of the UAE's runs came from Mohammed Barakat's 35, before he was caught by Khalid Moosa off Mohammed Aslam. The UAE bowlers started well after the break, Barakat catching the big-hitting Moosa off Khamis for 17. Captain Nadeem Aslam scored 16 before getting out leg before while Mohsen Gul Baig had scored 29 when Murad caught him off Mortoza Ismael. But when Ahmed came in to bat the tide began to change. Ismael saw off three Oman batsmen but the fielders let the team down with a number of dropped catches. Khamis took one wicket for the UAE, as did Albraik. Afterwards, Nadeem credited Sharif for doing well to neutralise the double threat of Khamis and Albraik. "We know they are good experienced players and can be very dangerous, as we saw against Kuwait," he said. "Sharif did very well against them and set us on the right path at the start. Abdulrazzak Kazim, the UAE manager, said his largely inexperienced team needed more experience of playing together. "It was pressure on our fielders," he said. "Oman have played together for a few years and you can tell the difference. We can't drop catches like we have either. But this is a new tournament for us and we will work on our game." @Email:[e-mail]