ICC Intercontinental Cup and Shield

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES v BERMUDA The Emirates’ skipper, Saqib Ali, elected to bat first on winning the toss in what he expected to be friendly conditions. As Gayan Silva and Arshad Ali took the score to 42 without trouble, his decision seemed justified, but after Malachi Jones removed Arshad Ali, Bermuda’s bowlers took control. With a good grass cover on the outfield, the ball retained its shine and Kevin Hurdle used it to gain considerable lateral movement off the pitch. The Emirates’ middle and lower order were unable to cope with the moving ball and were dismissed in the 50th over for a quite moderate score. No batsman got to 20 and the Emirates were grateful for the 39 extras which Bermuda conceded. The batsmen were not the only ones to struggle; Jason Simons, deputising for Jekon Edness behind the stumps, had a torrid first-class debut, letting through 19 byes. Hurdle bowled with great control for his six wickets and was well supported by Janeiro Tucker, who picked up three wickets, and Kyle Hodsoll, who bowled six overs for only 5 runs. There was still life in the pitch when Bermuda batted but, playing in one-day rather than four-day style, Rodney Trott produced a strike rate of 70.4 before becoming the second wicket to fall, with the score on 65. Simons struggled for 86 balls for his 15 runs before he and James Celestine both hit across the line of the ball and were trapped leg-before. David Hemp was his usual solid self, however, and he and Irving Romaine took Bermuda to a strong position at the close, 45 runs behind with six wickets in hand. Bermuda did their best to throw away their promising overnight position but a superb innings from David Hemp prevented them from doing so. The rest of Bermuda’s middle order were victims of poor shot selection as Romaine, Tucker and Jones departed in the morning session, whilst only 36 runs were added. Hemp, by contrast, took control of the bowling in a majestic and virtually faultless display with 24 fours and four sixes. Eventually, with the score on 163 for eight and a lead of only 20 runs, he found support from Hurdle. Together they put on 132 for the ninth wicket. Hemp was highly successful in farming the bowling so that Hurdle only faced 37 balls in 161 minutes of batting. Nevertheless, when on strike, he hit three fours and two sixes, these boundaries accounting for 92% of his runs. Debutant Irfan Ahmed took the last two wickets, giving Bermuda a lead of 168 and leaving Hemp undefeated after nearly five and a half hours, during which he averaged a strike rate of 69.0. Jones accounted for Gayan Silva, caught in the slips, but Arshad Ali and Naeemuddin Aslam showed that, with sensible batting, runs could be made comfortably. Their partnership reached 90 by the close as Bermuda’s captain rotated six bowlers in an attempt to gain a breakthrough, but in vain. The partnership was extended to 133 on the third day before Naeemuddin Aslam was run out. Hurdle quickly dismissed Kashif Khan to give Bermuda hope but this soon turned to despair as Saqib Ali joined Arshad Ali in a fourth-wicket partnership of 155. Whilst these two were together the pitch resembled the friendly batting wicket that had been anticipated on the first day. Both batsmen scored freely but without taking risks. Between them they struck 42 boundaries but without any sixes. Arshad Ali’s vigil, nine minutes short of nine hours, ended with the score on 321, his 185 being made at a strike rate of 57.2. Following his dismissal, the bowlers again found life in what was becoming a two-paced pitch, with the ball occasionally keeping low, as well as moving laterally off the seam. Saqib Ali remained untroubled, but could find no one to partner him until Qasim Zubair joined him for the eighth wicket to bat until the close. The Emirates were now in a strong position with a lead of 241 runs. Hurdle ended Saqib Ali’s innings early on the fourth morning, a stay of 6 hours and 31 minutes during which he maintained a strike rate of 54.8, and then polished off the tail. Set 282 to win, Bermuda got the worst of starts when Azeem Pitcher was run out without scoring. Instead of following the examples set by Hemp, Arshad Ali and Saqib Ali and batting with care, Bermuda simply collapsed to 33 for five. Romaine, Simons, Jones and Hurdle succeeded for a while in trying to hit their way out of trouble but, on a pitch of uneven bounce, it was a policy doomed to failure. Irfan Ahmed and Qasim Zubair exploited the conditions well and were supported by Shadeep Silva with his pacey left-arm spin. In the fourtieth over of the innings, Bermuda were dismissed before the tea interval to give the Emirates a surprisingly easy victory by 138 runs, a result that seemed very unlikely at the end of the first day. Once again Bermuda were the equal of their opponents for much of the match, but were unable to sustain the momentum and ended with another inept performance. The Man-of-the-Match award could have gone to Kevin Hurdle for his ten-wicket match haul or to any of the three century-makers; Arshad Ali received it for making the highest individual score. 136 ICC Intercontinental Cup 2007-08