SCOTLAND’S T20 World Cup preparations suffered a setback last night when they slumped to defeat against UAE.
The Scots went into the clash in Dubai on a high after wins against Hong Kong and a Counties XI but they were brought down to earth after failing to chase a modest victory target.
Having restricted the hosts to 148-8, Scotland suffered an immediate blow when in-form Kyle Coetzer was out to the first ball of the innings.
Calum MacLeod (15) and Matthew Cross (20) provided cameos but failed to convert promising starts and the Scots were soon in trouble on 49-4.
A half-century stand between Preston Mommsen and Richie Berrington repaired the damage and skipper Mommsen looked set to carry his side to victory.
However, having reached 56 from 42 balls with four boundaries and two sixes, he offered a return catch to bowler Rohan Mustafa.
That left the last two batsmen needing sixteen from the final eight deliveries and they fell nine short.
Mommsen said: “It’s a disappointing result for us to take. We felt we were in control of the game for significant periods.
“But we lacked the killer punch to get us the win we wanted.”
Earlier Safyaan Sharif stepped-up his bid for a place on the lucrative Caribbean Premier League by claiming 4-24 – the second best figures by a Scot in T20 internationals.
The Falkland fast bowler, named twenty-four hours earlier on the first Draft for this summer’s T20 extravaganza in the West Indies, made an early breakthrough after the hosts elected to bat first at the ICC Academy.
Scotland continued to strike at regular intervals but were stalled by the big-hitting Amjad Javed who bludgeoned what proved to be a decisive 76 from just 42 balls with five maximums.
Sharif returned to remove UAE’s top scorer thanks to Michael Leask’s catch and picked up two further wickets in the final over.
Leask weighed-in with 2-26 but fellow spinner Mark Watt came in for some stick from Javed, conceding 35 runs from his four overs.
The Scots will bid to bounce back when they take on the Netherlands today and Mommsen added: “It is a much anticipated game against the Dutch and we know they are a dangerous unit.
“This is the final game of the tour and we want to make sure we finish with a win to build some momentum looking forward to India.”
SCORECARD
| Toss won by | U.A.E. |
| Umpires | CK Nandan (IND) - Sarika Prasad (SING) - Shiju Sam (UAE) |
| Home Side | U.A.E. |
| Player of Match | Amjad Javed |
| Comment | Match referee: DT Jukes (England) |
| Batsman | Fieldsman | Bowler | Runs | Min | Bls | 4s | 6s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SP Patil+ | c PL Mommsen | b SM Sharif | 6 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 0 |
| Mohammad Shahzad | b AC Evans | 16 | 0 | 23 | 3 | 0 | |
| Shaiman Anwar | c PL Mommsen | b MA Leask | 15 | 0 | 12 | 1 | 1 |
| Mohammad Usman | c MH Cross | b MA Leask | 9 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 0 |
| Amjad Javed* | c MA Leask | b SM Sharif | 76 | 0 | 42 | 5 | 5 |
| Saqlain Haider | c KJ Coetzer | b SM Sharif | 7 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| Rohan Mustafa | run out SM Sharif | 12 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 0 | |
| Mohammad Naveed | c JH Davey | b SM Sharif | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Fahad Tariq | not out | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Qadeer Ahmed | dnb | - | |||||
| Zaheer Maqsood | dnb | - | |||||
| extras | (b1 lb2 w3 nb1) | 7 | |||||
| TOTAL | 8 wickets for | 148 |
| FOW |
|---|
| 1-18(SP Patil) 2-37(Mohammad Shahzad) 3-40(Shaiman Anwar) 4-75(Mohammad Usman) |
| 5-111(Saqlain Haider) 6-145(Amjad Javed) 7-146(Mohammad Naveed) |
| 8-148(Rohan Mustafa) |
| Bowler | O | M | R | W | wd | nb |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AC Evans | 4 | 0 | 28 | 1 | 1 | - |
| SM Sharif | 4 | 0 | 24 | 4 | - | - |
| JH Davey | 4 | 0 | 32 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| MRJ Watt | 4 | 0 | 35 | 0 | 1 | - |
| MA Leask | 4 | 0 | 26 | 2 | - | - |
| Batsman | Fieldsman | Bowler | Runs | Min | Bls | 4s | 6s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KJ Coetzer | c Saqlain Haider | b Mohammad Naveed | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| CS MacLeod | c Saqlain Haider | b Qadeer Ahmed | 15 | 0 | 15 | 2 | 0 |
| MH Cross+ | c SP Patil | b Amjad Javed | 20 | 0 | 19 | 1 | 2 |
| MW Machan | run out Shaiman Anwar | 12 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 0 | |
| PL Mommsen* | c&b; Rohan Mustafa | 56 | 0 | 42 | 4 | 2 | |
| RD Berrington | c Rohan Mustafa | b Zaheer Maqsood | 16 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 1 |
| MA Leask | c SP Patil | b Mohammad Naveed | 6 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| JH Davey | run out Mohammad Usman/Amjad Javed | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | |
| SM Sharif | not out | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | |
| MRJ Watt | b Amjad Javed | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | |
| AC Evans | not out | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| extras | (b0 lb0 w2 nb0) | 2 | |||||
| TOTAL | 9 wickets for | 139 |
| FOW |
|---|
| 1-1(KJ Coetzer) 2-30(CS MacLeod) 3-44(MH Cross) 4-49(MW Machan) |
| 5-102(RD Berrington) 6-110(MA Leask) 7-120(JH Davey) 8-133(PL Mommsen) |
| 9-138(MRJ Watt) |
| Bowler | O | M | R | W | wd | nb |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mohammad Naveed | 4 | 1 | 16 | 2 | 2 | - |
| Qadeer Ahmed | 4 | 0 | 38 | 1 | - | - |
| Amjad Javed | 4 | 0 | 19 | 2 | - | - |
| Mohammad Shahzad | 2 | 0 | 16 | 0 | - | - |
| Zaheer Maqsood | 4 | 0 | 29 | 1 | - | - |
| Rohan Mustafa | 2 | 0 | 21 | 1 | - | - |