UAE captain Khurram Khan hailed Manjula Guruge, whose six-wicket haul went in vain as Western Australia secured a 38-run win at the WACA on Friday.
It was the first match of the ICC High Performance Programme (HPP) for the UAE, where they will play a further five matches against state and provincial sides in Australia and New Zealand, in preparation for next year’s World Cup.
Opting to bat, Western Australia posted 245-9 with wicketkeeper Cameron Bancroft top-scoring with 119. In reply, the UAE were all out for 207, with Mohammad Naveed hitting his team’s top score of 41.
Left-arm seamer Guruge, 33, removed both openers, William Bosisto and Marcus Harris, as well as the tail-end to finish with figures of 6-30.
Khan said Guruge’s performance was a positive sign in defeat.
He said: “It was an awesome innings. He’s one of our main bowlers and has been playing exceptionally well in the last couple of months.
“He has always performed well with the team and we can be very proud of his performance. The way he was bowling, the batsmen had no answer and he will now be looking to take that confidence into the next game.”
The 43-year-old was satisfied with his bowlers, but rued the batting display after only five batsmen reached double figures. Khan will quickly want to address the issues when they take on the same opponents tomorrow at Murdoch University.
“It was a good start and to restrict Western Australia to 245 was good as it wasn’t a huge total.
“There were not many partnerships, and some of us got out very cheaply,” said Khan, who made 40 and was part of a 53-run stand for the third wicket.
Friday marked the first time that the UAE players have played at the famous WACA ground. Having described the experience as ‘a dream come true’, Khan pointed out that it’s important to register good results as well as adjusting to the conditions in Australia and New Zealand quickly.
He said: “It’s always good to get off to a winning note. These matches are all practice matches and we are here to learn.
“It will take time to get used to it [conditions]. It was wonderful to play and a dream come true for all of us. We would only see the matches at WACA on television so to come and play on the wicket itself is truly remarkable.
“Everybody was excited to play there and with next year’s World Cup, we know we will be going to some fantastic stadiums to play our games.”
