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Our batsmen just didn’t do well, says UAE coach

The UAE Under-19 coach Aaqib Javed was disappointed with his team’s batting against the England Under-19s and said that they needed to raise their game by a couple of notches in the remaining games in the competition. The hosts were walloped by 213 runs by England in their opening Group D fixture of the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup at the Shaikh Zayed International Cricket Stadium on Friday.

After allowing England to make a mammoth 315, the UAE folded up meekly for a paltry 102 runs in just 33 overs. The batting was a massive let down with only two batsmen—captain Rohit Singh (38) and opener and wicketkeeper Shivank Vijayakumar (26) getting into double figures.

“England are a good team but we could have done much better. Any time we would have got over 170 to 200 runs on that wicket. We could have score around 250 at least while chasing. Our batsmen just didn’t do well. We should have at least put a decent total,” Javed said after the game.

Javed, who is also at the helm of the senior squad, said that the lack of pace bowlers in the UAE was a concern. “What I have observed is that in international level, for fast bowling, you need a good environment like country side, open fields or a big park. You will hardly come across fast bowlers in apartments,” said the former Pakistan pace ace. “We always struggle with the seam bowlers. We have our limitations,” he added.

Javed is still searching for consistency from his team. The UAE had defeated Zimbabwe in a warm-up game the other day but stumbled against England on Friday.

“We are doing ordinary things and one good game against Zimbabwe. I think we need to be more consistent,” said Javed. Javed felt that the preparation they got was adequate and said that it was the batting that was a concern.

“We had six months of preparation. What else do you want? We played a series against England and Pakistan. We played the Asia Cup. They were tough games. They played almost 12 games. I think that was enough,” he said.

At the same time, people are expecting. There is no excuse. These lads are capable. Dan and Chirag are our main batsman and they are not scoring runs,” he added. He still felt that the UAE can make a strong comeback in the remaining games. The UAE take on New Zealand in Sharjah on Sunday. “In Sharjah, the pitch is batting friendly. You never know. Our batsmen need to score runs. If they score 250 plus, we can put pressure on the opposition,” Javed said.

Meanwhile, Man of the Match Ed Barnard, who scored a match-winning 93, was pleased as punch with his effort. “Obviously, it was great to start the tournament with a win and do well individually. I think it has set our side very well for the tournament right now going into the next two group games and hopefully, we can get a couple of wins,” Barnard said. Barnard said that having played here before was an advantage. “It was a big advantage that we came here for Christmas in December and played a few games. We had played against the UAE and so we didn’t go into this, not knowing what we are facing,” he added.

England captain Will Rhodes too was thrilled after the win. “We feel ecstatic about the win. It feels fantastic to see such a good performance from the lads today. It sets the benchmark and the standards, and we’re going to try and keep it going in the next two games, which I am sure will be harder against New Zealand and Sri Lanka,” said Rhodes.

james@khaleejtimes.com