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Afghan bowlers restrict Scots to 212

DUBAI - Namibia’s Kola Burger claimed 7-38 and helped dismiss UAE for just 79 runs on the opening day of the ICC Intercontinental Shield 2009-10 final at the ICC Global Cricket Academy on Thursday. Captain Craig Williams led from the front with the side’s batting, scoring a century and leaving the side 267-3 at the close.

Meanwhile at the Dubai Sports City Stadium, a century on the opening day of the ICC Intercontinental Cup 2009-10 final from Neil McCallum saw Scotland fight back from 97-8 to finish the day on a respectable 212 all out despite early wickets from Hamid Hassan and Mirwais Ashraf, an ICC release said.

The medium pace bowlers claimed the majority of the spoils, with Hamid claiming match figures of 5-45 to help limit the Scots on the first day of the five-day final in Dubai. However, had it not been for an impressive century from Neil McCallum the Scots would have been in a more difficult position going into Friday’s play.

Namibia gained total control of the match against UAE on the first day of the contest at the ICC GCA Ground.

The hosts were bowled out for a paltry 79 in just over a session thanks to an aggressive spell of swing bowling by Kola Burger (7-38) and then Williams slammed a century off 85 balls to leave the home team way behind in the contest. Namibia ended the first day at 267 for three and is now ahead by 188 runs with three full days of play left in the match.

In all thirteen wickets fell for a return of 346 runs on ICC GCA ground’s debut day as a first-class venue.

Namibia’s man of the day was obviously the big swing bowler Burger who scythed through the hosts in the opening session as nine wickets fell on a hectic Thursday morning. Only one man Naeem Aslam stood tall for UAE with a dogged 38 off 58 balls.

Burger is back playing cricket after a break and he was thrilled to have played a part on the opening day of the contest. “It was quite nice to have the ball swinging around. I bowled full and they were playing shots so it made it easy for us. I enjoyed myself completely today,’’ commented Burger.

Of all the seven wickets, Burger enjoyed the first one when he clean bowled Amjad Ali in his very first over. “I tried to get it going the other way and it worked for a change,” he recalled.

Despite his heroics, Burger credited the support provided by Louis Klazinga (2-35) at the other end which he believes made his job a lot easier.

“I think it is always nice to have someone like Klazzy at the other end who kept pushing the batsmen on to the back foot. It gave me an opportunity to bowl nice and full. I just hope we build on this momentum,” said Burger.

After Burger’s rich haul it was down to the Namibia batting to grind the home team. Things seemed to be moving along steadily till Williams came on the scene and injected energy with his brisk effort. He hammered the UAE bowlers into submission with 15 boundaries and four sixes.

Williams scored 116 off 102 balls and along the way shared a 161-run stand with Sarel Burger for the third wicket before being run out as the day drew to a close.

“The key was to remain positive at all times. I told the guys that in a final we cannot be tentative. So I took the initiative and batted positively. Sarel’s our banker who hangs around, while the others score briskly. It was important to get a big lead and put them under pressure as we want to bat just once,” said Williams.

For now, Williams wants his team to bat out the entire second day of the contest and gain further control. “We have a long batting line-up with a lot of senior batters yet to come. I am confident that we can bat out the entire day tomorrow,” added Williams.

UAE coach Kabir Khan conceded that his side had its back to the wall and it would take a gigantic effort from the team to claw its way into the contest.

“It was a bad toss to lose. There was a bit of moisture in the pitch and they got all the advantage. The kind of bowling they have, it became easier for an experienced bowler to come and deliver on the spot. It was a bad day. They totally outplayed us,” said Kabir.

But Kabir remained hopeful of a fight from his team. “It (the game) is in their favour. But you cannot say anything about cricket. Our batting can always come back. It is only the first day and you can’t say the game is finished. If we put up a nice total, then who knows what will happen because it will be them who bat on the fourth day,” he said.

Meanwhile, in the other match, Gordon Drummond won the toss and elected to bat in an attempt to pile on the runs against an in-form Afghanistan.

Drummond, however, did not bank on his side at one point flailing on 97-8 after Hamid and Mirwais tempted one too many a Scotsman into flicking the ball into the safe hands of either an Afghan fielder or Mohammed Shahzad, the side’s wicketkeeper.

McCallum managed to steady things for the side and alongside Simon Smith managed to guide the team to a more respectable total at the close of the first day’s play after nobody in Scotland’s top three managed to make more than five runs.

Opening batsman, Fraser Watts departed early for just five runs, while Kyle Coetzer was caught behind off the bowling of Hamid for a duck, with the side at one point on a mere 19 runs with three wickets down after Sharpoor Zadran and Hamid combined to destroy the batting line-up.

McCallum was impressed with the bowling attack of the Afghanistan side, praising Hamid and also Shapoor.

“The Afghan bowlers did well today and credit has to go to Hamid Hassan and also Shapoor Zadran for their strong bowling. A couple of the batsmen got themselves out by playing poor shots but the Afghan bowlers did well today,” said McCallum.

“Their bowlers just seemed to bowl it tight and in the right places to restrict us with our total and I just managed to settle myself and steady the ship with Simon Smith who batted extremely well today.

“Obviously it was pleasing to take an early wicket after we’d finished our innings and I won’t lie, we would have liked to take more than one tonight, but it puts us in good stead ahead of tomorrow where we need to make sure we restrict their run scoring,” concluded the 33-year-old from Edinburgh. Afghanistan’s Hamid Hassan paid credit to McCallum at the close of play admitting that the Scotsman’s innings had been the saving grace for the opposition but admitting that his side should have got him out earlier.

“Credit should go to Neil McCallum for his innings, he worked hard and in the end was scoring five or six off an over which worked well for him and his side in the long run today.

“We could have got him out a couple of times but we didn’t hold onto important catches and as the saying goes, ‘Catches win matches’,” said Hamid.

“I bowled a lot of overs today and my feet are really hurting but I hope that by the time the second innings comes around I’ll be good to bowl again and help bring us victory,” he concluded.