Captain Mohammad Tauqir insists Monday’s washed out warm-up game against Ireland will have no impact on their preparations for this week’s World Twenty20 qualifying opener.
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Not a single ball was bowled at Civil Service Cricket Club in Belfast as umpires abandoned the match at 15:00 local time (18:00 UAE) – forty five minutes after the scheduled start time.
“The Ireland game would’ve given us a good experience in getting used to match and pitch conditions,” said Tauqir.
“Even going forward, most of the games in these conditions will always have a slight chance of rain and it happened this time.
In the afternoon #wt20q warm-ups, Ireland v UAE is abandoned whilst Canada are going well against WDCU LIVE – http://t.co/HOlNssaipe
— ICC (@ICC) July 6, 2015
“We can’t fight against nature and there’s nothing we can do. But the game is not going to be a big blow for us and we have to accept it as it’s sport.”
He added: “We’ve been here for a couple of days and we’ve been training in these conditions so the abandoned game won’t be much of a concern for us.”
Tauqir’s side will now turn their focus to today’s final warm-up game against Nepal at the same venue, ahead of their opener against Scotland at Edinburgh’s Grange Park Club Ground on Thursday.
And the 43-year-old admitted it will be an important match against the Asian side, knowing that the latter’s warm-up game against Oman was also washed out on Monday due to poor weather.
“We’ve already had some games in Southampton which have helped us considerably,” he said.
“The Nepal match will be equally important as the Ireland game as they will be out there to prove themselves and like us, try and get as much match practice as we can before the qualifying tournament begins.
“They already had match practice with their game abandoned after 16 overs but their batsmen didn’t bat for long so it will be a real test where batsmen from both sides will be looking to get some runs.”
With no result possible after yesterday’s match, the UAE enter today’s encounter on a two-match win streak having beaten Jersey Men’s XI and Kenya in practice games in Southampton last week.
The lower-order batsman and spinner has been impressed by a number of individuals on the tour.
“Faizan Asif has been really impressive after scoring two centuries in the practice games so that’s very good while Shaiman Anwar and Amjad Javed have done well. All the players are clicking at the right time,” Tauqir said.
He added: “We don’t have many days until we face Scotland, but I feel we still need to adapt to the conditions as soon as possible and the sooner we adapt the better it will be for the team.”
