A seventh-wicket partnership of 107 in 11.5 overs - a World Cup record - between Shaiman Anwar and Amjad Javed rescued UAE from 131 for 6 in the 35th over. Anwar, who had scored 129 runs in seven innings coming into the World Cup, followed up his fifty against Zimbabwe with UAE's first World Cup and second ODI century. Anwar looked like Kamran Akmal in his relaxed stance, and the way he shaped up when playing his preferred shots square either side of the pitch.
It was a similar tale of ordinary death bowling for Ireland after they had let West Indies score 300-plus from 87 for 5, but once again Ireland were still the favourites to win on a flat and dry Gabba pitch. The damage done in the first 35 overs - through clever bowling changes, clever changes of pace and trajectory, and excellent fielding - was arguably more significant. At one point Ireland would have begun thinking of boosting their net run rate, but Anwar and Javed made sure there would be a contest in Brisbane.
After asking UAE to bat, Ireland were crafty despite limitations of pace in their attack. They did bring in Alex Cusack ahead of Andy McBrine to make use of the Gabba bounce, but just like with McBrine they introduced Paul Stirling ahead of the more established spinner George Dockrell. In a tidy unbroken spell of 10-0-27-2, Stirling took two wickets to foil any UAE plans of capitalising on a steady start. Kevin O'Brien and Dockrell then took regular wickets to make sure UAE didn't get much breathing space.
Amjad Ali and Andri Berenger, though, had made a big improvement after they had looked like getting out every ball against Zimbabwe. Without taking any risks they reached 42 for 0 in eight overs. That was when William Porterfield went to Cusack and Stirling. The next three overs brought just six runs, and in the fourth Berenger hit a shortish delivery straight down short midwicket's throat. In Sitrling's next over Kevin O'Brien took a stunning catch at first slip, a sharp ricochet off wicketkeeper Gary Wilson's thigh. The batsman dismissed was Kishna Chandran whose middle name is Karate, and Kevin O'brien celebrated with a Karate Kid pose.
At 53 for 2 in the 14th over, out came UAE's best player Khurram Khan and he looked fluent immediately. Ali, though, had lost all his fluency. From 29 off 31, he went to 41 off 66 when Kevin O'Brien was introduced in the 19th over. A freebie down the leg side should have eased the pressure a little, but later in the over Ali pulled the bowler straight to deep square leg. Wicketkeeper Swapnil Patil soon played a subcontinent shot to a length ball from Kevin O'Brien, opening the face, and struggling to control the ball. At first slip, Stirling returned the favour to the man who had played a big part in his wicket earlier.
Dockrell meanwhile was prepared to take on the pressure of bowling almost all his overs in the last 20. In his second, he had Khurram lbw, and UAE were disintegrating fast, threatening to not bat their 50 overs out when Anwar was joined by Javed. The batting Powerplay arrived immediately. With no pace at their disposal, and a resistance to the yorker, the Ireland bowlers let UAE back in. Anwar's purposeful batting imparted pressure under which Ireland collapsed.
Every time Ireland dropped short, both Anwar and Javed capitalised. At times their plans would be pedestrian, bowling half-volleys with mid-off and mid-on up, and bowling short with point and third man inside the circle. Part of it can be put down to the clever batting by the duo. They were intelligent in almost always hitting unmanned areas in the field, and once they were in their timing got better. Ninety-four runs came in nine overs after the end of the 35th.
Some control arrived in the next three overs, with Ireland getting their plans right. That didn't slow down Anwar, who now began to improvise with boundaries not as readily available. One of those improvisations, a dink past short third man brought him three runs to go to 100. A big smile and a celebration on his knees followed. Records had fallen, but UAE still needed their bowlers to perform out of their skins to notch the big one, a win.
No comments:
Post a Comment