Members of the UAE national team have urged the ICC to step in and arrange regular fixtures with Test nations after they were added to the ODI Rankings.
On Friday, the 12-team rankings were expanded by the sport’s governing body to accommodate the UAE, Nepal, Netherlands and Scotland after they retained or won ODI status until 2022.
With matches played between May 1, 2015 and April 30, 2017 being weighted at 50 per cent and games played after May 1, 2017 weighted at 100 per cent, the UAE sit 14th in the standings with 18 points, 10 adrift of fellow Associate nation Scotland.
Since regaining ODI status in 2015 following their World Cup qualification in New Zealand and Australia, the UAE have played 27 ODIs with 10 of those coming in 2018 during the ICC World Cup Qualifiers.
In their last ODI, they made the world take notice after they stunned hosts Zimbabwe by three runs (D/L method) for their first triumph over a full member. In the same tournament, they pushed West Indies all the way before they fell to a defeat to the two-time World T20 champions.
Like most Associate nations, the UAE have not had much opportunities to test themselves against the likes of Australia or England and only face them in global competitions.
But while the UAE’s Ahmed Raza insists it’s a good step to be included in the ODI rankings, the spinner believes the ICC and teams like Pakistan must support the Associate nations more considering they are using the world-class facilities in the Emirates regularly.
“It’s a good move. When Dougie (Brown) joined as head coach, his first words were to try and be the best Associate team by 2019 and I think we are very much on track for that. This is something for everyone to see and if the ICC give us more games against Test nations, obviously if we win a couple of those games, the ranking improves.”
He added: “If you look at Pakistan, they will play two T20s against Scotland and those kind of fixtures should happen more often. Pakistan are in England and they will tour Scotland as well. It will be the same for them later this year (when they play in the UAE). I feel they should be playing against us as well. That should be the idea that ICC should impose on these teams.
Scotland, UAE, Netherlands and Nepal have been added to the full @MRFWorldwide ICC ODI Rankings - check out the new 16-team table! https://t.co/m60h9Zm17A pic.twitter.com/lagxUHMw65
— ICC (@ICC) June 1, 2018
“If you’re using our facilities in the UAE, Pakistan should appreciate that and play more games against us. They could play one or two ODIs before their series which would help them as well. This would help us in boosting our rankings. Whenever we played Pakistan, we gave them a proper fight in the Asia Cup and it wasn’t a walk in the park. It would also help our individual rankings as players as well.”
UAE captain Rohan Mustafa agrees with Raza that it’s a boost for UAE cricket and that teams visiting the country should play the national team.
“It’s a good step,” he said. “We are now in the ODI rankings and if we perform against other nations who have ODI status, it will be very good for us as we can improve every day.
“I think it’s quite easy as every country has to come and play here in the UAE since Pakistan are holding their series here. We have a lot of opportunities and would love to play Test nations. Maybe even we can play against Ireland or Afghanistan one day in the future. It wouldn’t be a surprise if we play extremely well against Test countries.”
